S    OF    b 


LUA  HOLLISTER. 


7» O~\S\jL*JsC(^-*~ 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  DODD'S  SISTER. 


THE 

EVOLUTION  OF  DODD'S  SISTER 


OP    EVERYDAY    LIFE. 

BY 

CHARLOTTE  WHITNEY  EASTMAN. 


CHICAGO  AND  NEW  YORK  : 
RAND,  McNALLY  &  COMPANY. 

MDCCCXCVII. 


Copyright,  1897,  by  Rand,  McNally  &  Co. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  boy,  his  surroundings  and  develop- 
ment, have  been  the  subject  of  study  to 
many  thoughtful  men. 

Bishop  Vincent  in  "Tom  and  His  Teach- 
ers," Burdette  in  "The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the 
Mustache,"  William  Hawley  Smith  in  "The 
Evolution  of  Dodd,"  and  many  others  have 
presented  studies  on  different  phases  of  boy 
life. 

But  what  of  the  sisters  of  these  boys? 
Are  they  receiving  as  much  thought  and 
study  as  they  require,  or  have  they  reached 
the  Utopian  age  in  their  development 
wherein  all  things  are  so  ordered  as  to 
evolve  the  best  possible  woman  from  the 
girls  in  our  charge?  It  is  very  evident  to 
any  one  giving  the  subject  attention  that 
we  have  not  attained  to  that  happy  condi- 


2061734 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

tion.  There  are  many  women  who  are 
variously  failures. 

For  Dodd's  sister  I  have  chosen  a  type  of 
woman  who  is  become  exceedingly  com- 
mon. She  is  the  woman  who  has  made 
possible  those  abominable  discussions  on 
the  subject,  "Is  Marriage  a  Failure;"  she 
considers  that  the  divine  purpose  in  her  cre- 
ation is  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  lilies 
of  the  field;  "They  toil  not,  neither  do  they 
spin,  yet  ....  Solomon  in  all  his 
glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these." 

As  a  woman  she  is  a  failure,  although 
society  will  not  recognize  her  as  such;  for 
it  never  admits  that  a  woman  can  be  a  fail- 
ure in  any  but  a  moral  sense. 

To  discuss  her  needs  as  they  differ  from 
the  needs  of  the  boy  in  the  public  schools 
has  been  the  motive  of  this  book.  In  un- 
dertaking this,  it  has  been  necessary  to  deal 
with  some  elements  of  school  life  that  are 
rarely  discussed,  but  without  which  the  sub- 
ject can  never  be  truthfully  dealt  with. 

The  powerful  influence  of  certain  condi- 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

tions  in  our  schools  upon  the  final  character 
of  this  girl  must  become  patent  to  any  one 
giving  the  subject  careful  study. 

But  the  school  is  not  alone  responsible 
for  this  failure.  There  is  a  combination  of 
other  forces  that  contribute  to  produce  her. 
Some  of  these  we  find  in  the  home;  some 
in  the  moral  conditions  of  our  schools ;  and 
more  than  most  people  think  in  the  physical 
development  of  our  girls  in  the  high  school. 


THE 

EVOLUTION  OF  DODD'S  SISTER. 


BABYHOOD. 

A  new  baby  came  last  night  at  Dodd's 
house,  and  the  boy  had  scarcely  recovered 
from  the  fit  of  sulks  into  which  he  had  gone 
on  that  occasion.  He  had  been  taken  forci- 
bly from  his  mother's  warm  bed  by  a 
strange  woman  and  laid  on  the  couch  in 
the  study.  His  vigorous  kicks  and  screams 
soon  brought  his  father,  who  found  that  it 
would  require  all  his  time  and  attention  to 
quiet  the  young  man. 

He  first  tried  to  reason  with  him,  but 
arguments  were  scorned.  Then  he  tried 
the  effect  of  his  glass  paper-weight,  but  it 
was  dashed  to  the  floor  with  a  renewed  vol- 
ley of  screams. 

"Let  papa  sing  to  you,"  he  persisted  gen- 


10  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

tly,  but  while  music  may  have  charms  to 
soothe  the  savage  breast,  it  utterly  failed 
on  this  occasion. 

"Would  he  like  his  papa  to  walk  with 
him?"  At  the  very  suggestion  he  straight- 
ened out  stiff  and  threatened  to  hold  his 
breath. 

"What  would  papa's  boy  like?" 
Something  certainly  must  be    done    to 
quiet  this  outrageous  racket.     It  would  an- 
noy his  mother. 

"Would  he  like  to  play  with  the  clock?" 
Suddenly  he  paused  in  his  screaming 
with  a  pose  of  his  little  body  that  might 
mean  instant  renewal  if  the  clock  were  not 
quickly  forthcoming.  As  a  last  resort  the 
only  thing  in  the  whole  house  that  his 
mother  had  persistently  refused  to  let  him 
have  was  brought  down,  and  a  few  mo- 
ments of  peace  were  secured  while  Dodd 
did  effective  work  among  the  wheels. 

The  father  had  a  faint  notion  that  his  duty 
required  him  elsewhere,  but  Dodd  con- 
tinued to  differ  so  emphatically  upon  that 


DODD'S  SISTER.  11 

point  that  he  was  compelled  to  give  his  at- 
tention to  the  boy  and  the  clock,  and  the 
more  reluctantly  he  staid  the  more  emphatic 
the  boy  was  in  his  demands. 

So  the  deluded  father  remained  in  the 
only  place  where  he  was  of  the  least  serv- 
ice, while  the  great  tragedy  in  the  next 
room  was  being  enacted. 

At  last,  much  against  its  will,  the  little 
head  fell  on  the  father's  shoulder,  and  Dodd 
was  quiet. 

With  fear  and  trembling  he  laid  him  on 
the  couch  and  tip-toed  out  of  the  room.  As 
he  stepped  into  the  other  room,  the  old 
doctor  announced  in  an  apologetic  and 
sympathetic  way, 

"A  daughter,  sir." 

The  tone  impressed  the  mother 
strangely;  it  came  so  far  from  expressing 
the  thrill  of  pleasure  that  went  tingling 
through  her  as  she  knew  that  a  little  girl 
had  come  to  her  heart  and  home.  There 
was  altogether  lacking  that  note  of  triumph 
that  this  same  doctor  had  given  when  he 


12  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

had  announced  the  arrival  of  Dodd  two 
years  before.  Of  course  she  knew  that  sec- 
ond babies  were  not  such  congratulatory 
affairs  as  first  ones;  and  if  the  first  one  was, 
as  Dodd,  not  yet  out  of  his  babyhood,  the 
doctor  knew  that  the  new  baby  had  not 
come  in  answer  to  special  prayers.  That 
might  have  explained  why  the  tone  was 
sympathetic  instead  of  congratulatory. 

Not  at  all,  dear  mother.  It  would  have 
been  much  worse  if  that  had  been  the  first 
baby.  That  is  only  a  genteel  way  that  men 
doctors  have  of  telling  you  that  you  have 
not  performed  as  praiseworthy  an  act  in 
bringing  a  girl  into  the  world  as  you  did 
in  bringing  a  boy. 

In  the  coming  century,  when  women 
have  demonstrated  that  a  man  is  as  much 
out  of  place  in  presiding  over  a  birth  as  he 
would  be  in  caring  for  a  new  bora  babe, 
and  women  minister  to  women,  the  girl  baby 
shall  have  a  triumphant  note  all  its  own. 

Women  might  just  as  well  face  the  fact 
that,  while  the  poets  have  in  all  time  ex- 


XJDD'S  SISTER.  13 

tolled  them,  ??gislators  have  expressed  the 
real  sentiment  of  men  toward  them,  and 
doctors  have  ushered  them  into  this  world 
with  a  word  of  apology. 

Now,  there  is  a  reason  for  this,  that  is 
as  fundamental  in  humanity  as  the  verte- 
bral column.  In  the  very  earliest  condi- 
tions of  mankind  they  extolled  above  all 
other  characteristics,  brute  strength.  And 
to-day,  in  our  boasted  civilization,  crowds 
will  go  frantic  over  a  pugilist  whose  only 
attraction  is  his  muscles. 

In  the  very  heart  of  our  educational  sys- 
tem, among  the  colleges  of  the  land,  the 
man  who  can  jump  or  run  beyond  the  or- 
dinary will  have  his  name  trumpeted  to  the 
world,  while  his  super-intellectual  compan- 
ion has  only  a  small  college  circle  for  ad- 
mirers. 

There  we  find  in  humanity  this  love  of 
physical  force,  and  a  corresponding  con- 
tempt for  physical  weakness. 

There  was  also  a  strong  desire  to  op- 
press the  weak.  In  those  early  times  of  our 


14  THE   EVOLUTION     )P 

race  the  strong  man  was  king  and  the  weak 
man  or  the  weak  nation  was  scorned  and 
oppressed. 

O,  civilized  man,  don't  think  for  one  mo- 
ment that  you  are  beyond  it.  In  the  laws 
of  this  country  you  will  find  abundant  proof 
of  the  fact  that  whenever  the  interests  of 
man  and  woman  differ,  the  law  favors  the 
man.  The  same  love  of  physical  strength 
and  abuse  of  physical  weakness  clings  to 
us  yet. 

Only  when  women  have  used  their  intel- 
lectual force  to  oppose  it  have  they  ever 
been  able  to  compel  the  law-makers  to  enact 
laws  that  will  give  them  the  same  protec- 
tion that  it  gives  to  the  men.  There  has 
been  a  fatal  mistake  made  if  this  old  rela- 
tion was  to  have  been  kept  up.  Fathers  of 
the  nation,  drive  the  women  out  of  the 
schools,  or  your  great-grandsons  will  never 
be  able  to  be  the  lords  of  creation. 

Then  there  is  another  strong  reason  why 
this  new  girl  baby  called  for  sympathy. 
Away  back  in  that  early  time  when  society 


DODD'S  SISTER.  15 

was  unformed,  and  the  nations  held  their 
territory  through  their  strength,  every  wom- 
an meant  just  so  much  more  of  a  burden 
to  the  state;  every  man,  so  much  more 
help ;  and  naturally  the  advent  of  a  boy  was 
a  cause  of  rejoicing. 

No  doubt  the  father  strutted  around  as 
if  he  had  done  something  to  be  proud  of, 
and  treated  his  friends  to  whatever  in  that 
day  represented  cigars  and  it  may  be  beer. 

What  a  pity  it  is  that  the  roosters  in  the 
barn-yard  can  not  know  the  sex  of  each 
egg  that  is  laid!  It  would  save  them  such 
an  amount  of  crowing. 

As  society  came  more  into  form,  the 
daughters  were  like  other  chattels;  they 
must  be  disposed  of  to  the  best  advantage. 

The  Catholic  convent  afforded  a  refuge 
for  third  and  otherwise  undesirable  daugh- 
ters. In  fact,  it  has  not  been  until  a  date 
within  our  memory  that  a  daughter  did  not 
promise  to  be  something  of  a  burden  to  her 
father.  And  even  now  we  find  a  good  many 
fathers  who  consider  that  they  have  failed 


16  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

in  their  duty  if  they  do  not  support  their 
daughters  in  idleness,  and  daughters  who 
remain  long  under  these  parental  roofs  soon 
acquire  a  feeling  of  pride  in  dependent  wom- 
anhood. 

But  the  modern  girl  who  goes  through 
college,  and  many  others  who  come  in 
touch  with  the  spirit  engendered  there, 
have  a  growing  feeling  of  independence, 
and  a  strong  desire  to  be  self-supporting. 

We  shall  soon  consider  the  daughter  who 
sits  in  her  father's  parlor  and  waits  for  the 
conquering  hero  to  come,  as  on  a  par  with 
the  man  who  consumes  his  time  and  energy 
in  decorating  himself  and  strutting  about 
to  be  admired,  and  a  feminine  form  for  dude 
and  dandy  will  be  invented. 

We  have  no  current  word  to  express  fem- 
inine insipidity ;  not,  as  surely  every  observ- 
ing person  knows,  because  it  does  not  exist, 
but  just  because  there  is  a  certain  admira- 
tion for  this  kind  of  womanhood.  The  old 
oak-and-vine  idea  still  prevails. 

When  this  idea  of  something  to  be  sup- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  17 

ported  is  eliminated  from  womanhood,  the 
baby  girl  will  be  considered  one  of  God's 
choicest  blessings  at  her  birth,  even  as  she 
is  now  a  few  weeks  later.  It  is  strange 
how  this  feeling  is  confined  to  a  short  space 
of  time  after  her  birth. 

Scientists  tell  us  that  the  characteristics 
of  our  progenitors  show  themselves  more 
plainly  in  our  infancy  than  at  any  other 
time,  and  it  is  the  same  with  this  rem- 
nant of  barbarism.  The  circumstances  of 
the  birth  of  the  baby  girl  are  no  criterion 
of  her  future  condition  except  in  the  heart 
of  her  mother.  For  let  the  world  say  what 
it  will,  the  mother's  heart  is  never  satisfied 
until  it  has  a  daughter  for  its  own.  The 
home  is  made  so  lovely  by  her  presence  that 
the  parents  soon  realize  that  nothing  can 
ever  take  the  place  in  the  home  that  a  little 
girl  fills. 

A  profane  old  doctor  once  expressed  the 
whole  matter  in  a  nutshell.  He  had  been 
attending  the  advent  of  the  third  little  girl, 
upon  which  occasion  the  father  had  ex- 


18  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

pressed  his  disapprobation  in  very  strong 
terms.  With  the  freedom  that  only  family 
doctors  acquire  he  said, 

"O,  shut  up.  In  a  week  you  won't  give 
a  —  -  which  it  is." 

And  he  was  right.  That  third  girl  was 
her  father's  especial  pride.  A  few  years 
ago  there  appeared  a  series  of  articles  in 
one  of  our  magazines  on  the  question, 
"Should  the  girl  have  a  dowry?'' 

One  writer  said,  "Now,  why  not  say  when 
the  girl  is  born,  'We  must  now  begin  and 
save  for  Dorothy's  dowry.'" 

For  the  love  of  woman-kind,  don't! 

Just  as  she  is  hoping  for  a  decent  recep- 
tion in  this  world,  don't  blast  it  all  by  sad- 
dling upon  her  parents  a  burden  at  her  ar- 
rival. If  Dorothy  does  not  bring  to  her 
husband  dowry  enough  in  a  helping  heart 
and  hand,  let  her  go  and  earn  her  living  in 
some  other  way.  Not  that  a  dowry  is  not 
a  desirable  thing,  but  train  Dorothy  to  ap- 
preciate the  fact  that  if  she  does  her  duty 
as  wife  and  mother,  she  has  earned  her  right 


DODD'S   SISTER.  19 

to  live,  whether  or  not  she  ever  brings  a 
dollar  into  the  family  treasury. 

Teach  her,  also,  that  the  long  hours  of 
a  mother's  labor,  although  not  so  recog- 
nized in  the  laws  of  men,  are  just  as  val- 
uable as  a  creative  power  as  the  day's  labor 
of  her  husband;  and  though  the  law  never 
recognizes  her  right  to  will  a  dollar  of  the 
family  property  away  from  her  husband, 
that  it  is  merely  a  man-made  law,  and  she, 
before  the  bar  of  justice,  is  equal  partner 
with  him  in  all  the  rights  of  the  family. 

Teach  her  these  things,  and  she  will  be 
of  infinitely  more  value  to  the  human  race 
than  a  dozen  dowries  could  make  her. 

But  of  these  things  the  mother  and  father 
at  the  parsonage  had  little  time  to  think. 

The  baby  had  come  with  that  heritage 
of  American  babies,  a  weak  stomach,  and 
the  whole  list  of  patent  foods  were  tried  with 
little  success,  although  each  can  came  war- 
ranted to  fit  the  case,  adorned  with  the  por- 
traits of  unnumbered  fat  and  lusty  babies 
that  it  had  saved  from  an  early  grave.  How- 


20  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

ever,  with  much  worrying  from  the  mother, 
and  with  much  complaint  from  the  father 
as  the  dollars  rolled  out  of  his  pocket,  the 
baby  survived  through  the  first  three  criti- 
cal months. 

The  little  one  was  tended  with  all  a  moth- 
er's loving  care.  It  was  not  a  baby  that 
was  scientifically  trained  in  every  respect. 
All  the  new  ideas  with  regard  to  the  care 
of  a  baby  were  not  readily  received  by  this 
mother.  To  her  many  of  them  bore  the 
stamp  of  masculinity,  and  did  not  appeal 
to  her  mother  sense;  and  when  a  wise  sis- 
ter told  her,  "You  should  never  rock  your 
baby  to  sleep,"  her  usual  mildness  was  very 
much  disturbed,  and  she  showed  more  spir- 
it than  was  consistent  with  the  conventional 
minister's  wife. 

"I  would  like  to  know  why  I  shouldn't 
rock  my  baby!  Hasn't  she  cost  me  enough, 
that  I  shouldn't  get  every  drop  of  sweet- 
ness out  of  her  that  I  can?" 

"Yes,  but  if  you  ever  want  to  go  away 
any  place,  you  will  always  have  to  stay  to 


DODD'S   SISTER.  21 

rock  the  baby  first.  I  think  it  a  great 
nuisance.  You  might  just  as  well  train  her 
to  get  along  without  you.  She  is  a  great 
deal  better  off,  and  you  will  have  so  much 
less  care." 

"\Yhy,  I  enjoy  these  half  hours  with  my 
baby  better  than  I  do  going  to  anything." 

"O,  well,  of  course  if  you  want  to  make  a 
martyr  of  yourself,  you  ought  to  have  the 
blessed  privilege." 

She  did  want  to  make  a  martyr  of  her- 
self. The  maternal  love  filled  her  whole 
being;  and  in  the  long  years  afterward, 
when  she  took  the  little  worn  shoes  out  of 
their  corner  in  the  old  trunk,  when  the  little 
feet  that  wore  them  were  far  along  on  their 
journey,  and  far  away  from  the  loving  moth- 
er heart,  as  she  pressed  to  her  cheek  the 
little  empty  shoes,  how  those  moments  all 
came  back,  when  the  little  head  lay  on  her 
shoulder,  and  the  pink  feet  were  crowded 
into  the  palm  of  her  hand,  and  the  velvet 
touch  of  the  little  fingers  was  on  her  cheek. 
The  years  of  trouble  and  care  that  lay  be- 


22  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

tween  faded  away  and  she  knew  that  never 
in  the  whole  experience  of  motherhood  were 
there  sweeter  moments  than  those  twilight 
half  hours  when  she  rocked  her  baby 
asleep. 

The  little  shoes  that  are  stored  away  in 
the  old  trunk — what  secrets  do  they  hold 
that  send  the  baby's  memories  crowding 
into  the  mothers  heart  faster  and  thicker 
than  all  the  other  little  garments  laid  away? 
The  little  feet  that  wore  them  "must  wan- 
der on  through  hopes  and  fears,  must  ache 
and  bleed  beneath  their  load,"  and  the 
mother,  who  is  now 

"Nearer  to  the  Wayside  Inn, 
Where  toil  shall  cease  and  rest  begin," 

feels  a  wonderful  rush  of  tenderness  for  the 
little  feet  that  have  left  their  impress  on  the 
little  worn  shoes. 


"Well,  this    baby    must    have    a    name, 
papa." 

"Certainly.    Let  us  give  her  a  good  Chris- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  23 

tian  name.  My  mother's  name  was  Su- 
sannah. Suppose  we  call  her  Susan." 

"Susan  indeed!  I'll  never  call  this  sweet 
little  thing  Susan.  I  think  Berenice  and 
Benita  would  be  very  pretty." 

"Pure  foolishness,  both  of  them.  Do  let 
the  child  have  a  name  with  some  character 
to  it.  I  would  like  to  give  her  one  with 
some  inspiration  like  Doddridge.  Martha 
or  Sarah  would  be  a  noble  name." 

"Why,  if  you  must  have  a  Bible  name, 
let's  take  Ruth.  That  is  pretty." 

"Very  well,  if  you  like  it.  But  don't  give 
her  a  name  that  she'll  be  ashamed  of  if  she 
grows  to  be  a  noble  woman." 

So  Ruth  she  was  called. 

The  chances  were  that  Ruth  would  have 
discipline  enough  to  bring  out  her  nobility 
young,  for  Dodd's  attitude  toward  the  new 
baby  could  never  be  questioned.  It  was 
from  the  start 

"Muzzer's  dot  a  baby, 
Ittle  bitsy  sing; 
Sink  I  most  could  put  her 


24  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

Froo  my  rubber  ring. 
Got  all  my  nice  kisses, 
Got  my  place  in  bed; 
Mean  to  take  my  drum  stick 
An  crack  her  on  the  head." 


And  the  moment  that  the  mother's  back 
was  turned  he  proceeded  to  carry  out  his 
intention  in  some  form  or  another,  until  she 
was  willing  that  he  should  live  most  of  the 
time  in  the  street. 

But  the  baby  Ruth  managed  to  live 
through  it  all  in  a  marvelous  way  that  only 
babies  understand.  She  soon  began  to  de- 
velop bewitching  dimples,  and  to  her  moth- 
er's inexpressible  delight,  the  little  lock  of 
yellow  hair  that  hung  on  her  fair  white 
forehead  curled  into  a  ringlet,  and  the  eyes, 
that  were  merely  round  and  indistinct  in 
their  coloring,  took  on  a  most  charming 
curve  and  shone  with  a  soft  violet  light. 

And  the  mother  saw  that  her  baby  girl 
was  beautiful,  and  she  was  glad.  Dodd 
was  not  a  beauty;  but  then,  Dodd  was  a 
boy,  and  even  her  prosaic  preacher  hus- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  25 

band  could  see  the  advantage  of  beauty  in  a 
girl! 

She  had  heard  him  say  only  last  Sunday 
in  his  sermon,  when  describing  a  man  to 
whom  this  world  had  given  all  things  good, 
that  he  had  sons  who  were  upright,  no- 
ble, gifted  in  intellect  and  heart,  and  daugh- 
ters who  were  beautiful. 

Little  difference  though  their  hearts  were 
small  and  cold  and  selfish,  and  their  minds 
held  no  more  than  a  sieve — they  were  beau- 
tiful. 

Why  should  she  not  think  it  God's  great- 
est gift  to  woman?  Did  she  not  see  in  her 
daily  life — did  not  every  poem  and  every 
story  prove,  that  beauty  is  a  great  and  won- 
derful possession?  Had  she  not  seen  bril- 
liant men  and  good  men  choose  for  their 
wives  women  whose  only  attraction,  whose 
only  endowment,  was  their  beauty? 

It  was  the  exception  when  the  judge  left 
Maud  Muller  to  her  lot  of  raking  hay.  He 
usually  married  her  in  haste,  and  then  when 
he  contemplated  the  twins  he  "wished  that 


26  THE   EVOLUTION  OP 

they  looked  less  like  the  man  that  raked 
the  hay  on  Muller's  farm." 

And  little  Ruth  was  beautiful;  no  one 
could  question  it.  And,  indeed,  no  one  tried 
to.  On  the  contrary  they  vied  with  each 
other  in  calling  her  a  beautiful  little  darling, 
and  in  presenting  her  mother  with  dainty 
clothing  for  her  to  wear,  so  that  when  her 
babyhood  days  were  past  and  she  was  con- 
sidered in  the  eyes  of  the  law  ready  for  the 
moulding  that  the  public  school  gives,  lit- 
tle Miss  Ruth,  as  she  liked  to  be  called,  had 
a  very  distinct  and  well  defined  idea  of  her 
personal  beauty  and  her  pretty  clothes. 


DODD'S   SISTER.  27 


GIRLHOOD. 

That  first  day  at  school  was  an  occasion 
that  Ruth  had  looked  forward  to  with 
eagerness,  for  she  had  plans  for  a  small 
victory.  The  mild,  adoring  mother  said 
with  gentle  persuasion,  as  she  was  being 
prepared, 

"Ruth,  dear,  you  ought  not  to  wear  your 
brown  slippers.  Auntie  sent  them  to  wear 
with  your  new  dress.  Your  shoes  will  do 
very  nicely  for  this  fall  at  school." 

"O,  I  don't  want  to  wear  those  horrid 
shoes!  Can't  I  wear  them  just  to-day?  I'll 
be  just  as  careful.  Auntie  May  won't  care, 
I  just  know  she  won't,  and  I  won't  get  a 
speck  of  dirt  on  them.  Can't  I,  mamma?" 

"I  guess  not,  dear." 

Down  the  round  cheeks  the  tears  rolled, 
for  it  was  a  matter  of  real  grief  to  her. 

"O,  yes,  please  do,  mamma;   I  want  to 


28  THE  EVOLUTION    OP 

just  to-day.  I'll  be  so  careful.  I  won't 
play  at  all." 

"Well,  if  you  want  to  so  much,  wear 
them.  But  I  think  you  would  have  a  much 
happier  time  if  you  wore  your  shoes." 

The  slippers  were  on  in  a  twinkling,  and, 
as  the  curls  were  being  brushed,  the  next 
question  was  mooted. 

"I'll  want  my  new  ribbons  if  I  have  those 
slippers,  won't  I,  mamma?" 

"They  are  so  fresh  that  we  must  keep 
them  for  Sunday;  the  old  ones  are  to  be 
used  for  school." 

"But  this  is  the  first  day,  mamma.  I 
ought  to  have  something  different,  you 
know." 

"Well,  only  for  to-day,  remember." 

"And  my  white  apron  that  has  the  Swiss 
embroidery  on  it — I  can  wear  that,  can't  I, 
mamma?" 

"You  will  tear  that  if  you  try  to  play, 
my  dear.  The  heavier  one  will  do  just  as 
well." 

"I'll  be  so  careful;   I  won't  play  a  single 


DODD'S   SISTER.  29 

speck.  Aunty  said  those  heavy  ones  looked 
so  common,  so  she  gave  me  this  one  just 
on  purpose  to  look  nice  in.  I'm  sure  she 
would  want  me  to  wear  it." 

"Then  you  must  be  very  careful." 

"O,  I  will." 

Her  first  victory  was  won;  for  she  felt 
that  she  would  be  the  most  "proud  and 
stylish"  girl  that  went  to  that  school. 

Her  childish  ideal  was  fixed,  and  she  en- 
larged it  as  the  years  went  by;  but  it  was 
always  the  same  ideal. 

Fresh  and  sweet  as  a  flower  she  looked 
as  her  mother  gave  her  the  last  caressing 
pat  and  kissed  her  good-bye. 

"Now  you  will  be  a  good  girl,  I  am  sure, 
dear.  You  always  are.'"' 

The  sighs  that  had  been  inwardly  heaved 
over  unpromising  brother  Dodd  when  he 
made  his  first  appearance  in  the  school  room 
were  in  strong  contrast  to  the  greeting  that 
was  accorded  to  this  dainty  bit  of  pink  and 
white  femininity,  with  eyes  so  moist  and 
touchingly  suggestive  of  the  late  grief  over 


30  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

the  brown  slippers.  The  teacher  came  to 
meet  her  with  manifest  delight  as  soon  as 
she  saw  her  enter  the  door. 

"O,  you  little  darling!  Have  you  come 
to  school?  Can  you  tell  me  what  your  name 
is?  Where  did  you  get  those  lovely  curls 
and  such  cunning  little  slippers?  You  are 
going  to  come  every  day,  aren't  you? 
Won't  you  kiss  me?" 

O,  yes,  Ruth  would  kiss  her,  although 
herself  not  fond  of  promiscuous  kissing.  It 
would  have  been  very  improper  to  refuse 
to  kiss  the  teacher;  so  she  submitted  in  a 
very  graceful  way,  and  the  young  lady  nev- 
er discovered  that  it  was  other  than  a  de- 
light to  the  child. 

With  herself  it  was  such  a  constant  habit 
that  she  never  imagined  that  there  were  na- 
tures to  whom  public  and  promiscuous  kiss- 
ing seemed  excessively  vulgar.  She  might 
have  comprehended  that  in  the  light  of  hy- 
giene it  was  dangerous,  but  that  it  might 
also  be  aesthetically  offensive,  never  oc- 
curred to  her. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  31 

These  eternal  kissers.  If  they  would  only 
confine  their  kisses  to  those  whose  tastes 
are  similar  to  their  own,  they  would  not  be 
such  public  nuisances.  But  no  one  escapes. 

The  teacher  with  the  kissing  habit  has 
so  many  at  her  mercy.  She  ordinarily 
kisses  only  the  attractive  ones,  but  there 
have  been  reports  of  those  with  such  os- 
trich-like stomachs  that  they  could  kiss  the 
whole  school.  When  they  do  what  they  are 
given  to  see  is  their  duty  in  this  heroic  style, 
while  it  maybe  momentarily  disagreeable  to 
some,  yet  there  are  no  aching  or  rebellious 
little  hearts  under  the  shabby  aprons  of  lit- 
tle ones  from  lowly  homes  that  wished  they 
were  pretty  enough  to  be  kissed. 

The  teacher  was  young  and  gushing. 
She  was  but  lately  a  high  school  girl,  and 
her  apprenticeship  in  the  training  school 
had  not  given  her  the  thoughtfulness  for 
others'  feelings  that  a  few  more  years  of 
life  might  give.  She  had  a  great  deal  of  con- 
fidence in  her  own  judgment,  but  her  sus- 


32  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

ceptibility  to  golden  curls  and  pretty  slip- 
pers was  not  diminished  in  the  least. 

Was  it  a  part  of  that  teacher's  duty  to 
cultivate  vanity,  and  entirely  ignore  the  feel- 
ings of  little  hearts  that  beat  under  plain 
gingham  aprons?  An  admiring  smile  would 
have  been  just  as  dear  to  little  Katie  Kabrin- 
ski,  indeed  much  dearer  because  of  its  rari- 
ty. But  that  young  teacher  was  governed 
more  particularly  by  impulse  than  principle 
in  these  matters,  although,  to  be  sure,  it 
never  occurred  to  her  in  that  light.  She 
had  not  learned  to  have  much  sympathy 
with  plain  folks.  She  belonged  to  a  state, 
moreover,  in  which  the  legislators  had 
failed  to  appreciate  any  advantage  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  employment  of  more  ma- 
tured women  as  teachers. 

Public  schools  are  not  philanthropic  in- 
,  stitutions  to  provide  support  for  high  school 
misses  in  preference  to  more  experienced 
teachers,  even  though  married.  The  wom- 
an, and  especially  the  mother,  of  experience 


; 


DODD'S  SISTER.  33 

would  have  given  plain  little  Katie  one  of 
those  caressing  words. 

What  if  her  hair  was  straw  colored,  with 
face  to  match,  and  the  two  little  braided 
tails  of  hair  were  tied  with  shoestrings? 
Her  heart  was  just  as  tender.  The  fact  that 
there  was  no  word  for  her  gave  her  a  most 
important  lesson  before  the  teacher  had 
hung  up  the  reading  chart.  She  saw  the 
value  of  beauty  and  pretty  clothes,  and 
learned  at  five  what  she  would  still  believe 
at  fifty,  that  beauty  in  a  woman  is,  in  prac- 
tice, valued  at  more  than  the  truest  of 
hearts.  The  words  "proud  and  stylish" 
were  unknown  to  her,  but  she  recognized 
their  meaning,  and  was  a  ready  devotee  at 
their  shrine. 

Ruth  had  answered  the  teacher  with  dim- 
pling smiles  and  a  sweet  "Yes,  ma'am,"  and 
when  the  bell  called  the  children  together, 
the  teacher  looked  for  a  seat  for  her.  The 
only  vacant  one  was  found  beside  the  little 
Russian  girl. 

She  hesitated  a  moment  and  then  said: 

3 


I 

34  THE  EVOLUTION   OP 

"Well,  my  dear,  I  guess  you  will  have  to 
sit  here  for  the  present."  She  did  not  say: 

"I  am  sorry  that  such  a  sweet  little 
darling  must  sit  by  that  homely  little  thing 
in  her  Dutch  blue  apron  and  calf-skin  shoes, 
but  we  will  move  you  as  soon  as  possible." 

She  did  not  say  it,  but  each  little  girl  un- 
derstood it  perfectly,  and  Ruth  drew  her 
apron  very  close  to  herself  and  tried  by  her 
manner  of  superiority  to  impress  upon  Ka- 
tie that  the  difference  between  them  was 
great.  And  Katie  unhesitatingly  believed 
her. 

When  the  work  of  the  morning  began, 
and  the  teacher  was  trying  to  impress,  first 
the  script  form — of  course  it  was  very  im- 
portant to  have  the  script  form  first — and 
then  the  printed  form  of  C  A  T,  Ruth  was 
comparing  her  finger  nails  with  those  of 
Katie. 

Auntie  May  had  often  told  her  that  she 
would  be  an  aristocrat  because  her  nails 
were  so  beautifully  shaped,  and  she  had  re- 
solved that  she  would  never  again  play  at 


DODD'S   SISTER.  35 

making  mud  pies,  for  it  just  spoiled  them. 
She  saw  that  Katie's  were  short  and  square, 
and  of  course  Katie  could  never  be  an 
aristocrat. 

Katie's  eyes  were  filled  with  admiration 
and  interest,  not  for  the  picture  cat,  nor  its 
script  representative,  but  for  the  wonderful 
embroidery  on  Ruth's  apron.  This  evident 
admiration  entirely  thawed  out  Ruth's  in- 
tended hauteur,  and  she  poked  out  one 
brown  slipper  and  whispered: 
"Auntie  May  gave  them  to  me." 
One  after  another  she  displayed  the  arti- 
cles of  her  finery  for  Katie's  admiration,  and 
when  each  had  elicited  as  much  as  it  could, 
she  drew  up  a  corner  of  her  dress  just  to 
show  the  edge  of  a  dainty  embroidered 
skirt  to  convince  Katie  that  she  was  the 
same  all  the  way  through.  When  the  lesson 
was  finished  these  children  had  but  a  dim 
idea  of  it;  not  that  they  were  dull,  nor  that 
the  gushing  girl  teacher  had  not  illustrated 
the  subject  to  its  fullest,  but  that  the  subject 
of  clothes  had  so  completely  absorbed  their 


36  THE   EVOLUTION   OP 

attention  that  there  was  room  for  nothing 
else. 

When  Katie's  admiration  began  to  wane, 
Ruth  drew  herself  together  again  with  the 
sudden  recollection  that  she  had  been  too 
familiar.  As  soon  as  school  was  out,  she 
found  Beatrice,  the  banker's  little  daughter, 
and  walked  home  with  her.  Katie  was 
just  behind  them,  but  of  course  she  could 
not  walk  with  them,  she  was  so  common. 

Ruth  had  really  felt  greatly  attracted 
toward  the  admiring  child,  but  Auntie  May 
had  told  her  mamma  that  Ruth  ought  not 
to  be  allowed  to  associate  with  common 
children  if  she  expected  her  to  grow  up  ex- 
clusive. Mamma  had  answered  that  she 
supposed  she  ought  to  be  satisfied  if  her 
child  grew  up  good.  But  to  be  sure,  you 
could  not  help  but  expect  something  more 
from  such  a  child. 

So  she  knew  that  there  were  things  ex- 
pected of  her,  and  she  did  not  intend  to  ruin 
her  prospects  by  walking  with  such  a  com- 
mon companion  as  Katie  Kabrinski. 


DODD'S   SISTER.  37 

On  their  way  home  Beatrice  brought 
from  her  pocket  a  new  shining  five  cent 
piece  that  had  been  given  her  if  she  would 
be  a  good  child  and  not  "fuss"  about  going 
to  school.  A  paper  bag  of  chocolate  creams 
was  soon  bought,  and  this  was  a  strong  ce- 
ment to  the  friendship  thus  formed. 

"O,  I  just  love  chocolate  creams;  don't 
you?"  was  the  way  Ruth  showed  her  appre- 
ciation. 

"O,  not  very  much;  my  papa  brings  me 
so  many  I'm  most  tired  to  death  of  them. 
We  don't  have  hardly  anything  but  candies 
and  such  things  at  our  house." 

"Neither  do  we,"  replied  Ruth,  spurred 
on  not  to  be  outdone  by  Beatrice  in  the 
matter  of  ennui  as  regarded  all  delicacies; 
"I  have  candy  and  nuts  and  oranges  and 
such  things  almost  every  day.  O,  we  have 
pie,  too;  I  think  pie  is  just  splendid,  don't 
you?" 

"O,  some  kinds.  If  it's  mince  with  lots 
of  raisins  or  lemon  pie  with  frosting.  I 


38  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 

won't  eat  any  other  kind.  I  tell  you,  I'm 
just  mad  if  mamma  has  any  other  kind." 

"So  am  I.     I  always  have  two  pieces." 

Now,  Beatrice  did  not  state  the  exact 
truth  in  this  conversation,  but  Ruth  came 
much  farther  from  it,  for  the  parsonage 
pocket-book  did  not  afford  pie  and  candy 
on  all  occasions.  But  Ruth  would  have 
been  been  greatly  mortified  if  Beatrice  had 
known  the  exact  truth  in  regard  to  that 
matter. 

Beatrice  did  not  have  tapering  fingers 
and  almond  shaped  nails  like  hers,  but  her 
father  was  the  richest  man  in  the  town,  and 
she  had  grown-up  sisters  who  had  lovely 
dresses  and  drove  in  an  elegant  carriage 
and  went  to  dances,  and  Ruth  thought  that 
probably  they  had  all  the  chocolate  creams 
that  they  could  eat.  From  her  lips  Beatrice 
should  never  get  a  confession  that  choco- 
late creams  were  a  rarity  at  the  parsonage. 

By  the  time  the  little  stomach  was  well 
under  headway  doing  its  duty  for  the 
creams,  her  appetite  for  the  mashed  pota- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  39 

toes  and  beef  steak  that  her  mother  set  be- 
fore her  for  her  dinner  was  anything  but 
keen,  and  she  waited  in  pouting  silence  for 
the  dessert. 

Rice  pudding,  and  not  a  single  raisin  in 
it!  However,  the  cream  and  sugar  were 
some  inducement,  and  she  ate  her  share. 

"Why,  Ruth,  aren't  you  going  to  eat  any- 
thing but  pudding  for  your  dinner?"  asked 
anxious  mamma. 

"O,  I  don't  care  for  such  plain  food." 
And  Ruth  thought  she  was  growing  really 
aristocratic. 

Beatrice  with  her  five  cents  was  now 
Ruth's  constant  companion  from  school. 
The  little  bag  of  candy  was  regularly  con- 
sumed, and  the  mother  wondered  why  Ruth 
had  so  little  appetite  for  her  dinner,  and 
seemed  not  to  sleep  well.  Finally  she  grew 
peevish  and  her  breath  was  fetid,  and  the 
mother  was  sure  that  she  had  worms. 

They  kept  her  home  from  school  for 
three  days  and  fed  her  on  turpentine  and 
sugar;  then  she  was  very  much  better. 


40  THE  EVOLUTION   OF 

There  really  was  nothing  like  turpentine 
for  worms! 

But  Ruth  was  afraid  that  some  one  would 
get  her  seat  beside  Beatrice — for  as  soon 
as  possible  the  teacher  had  changed  her 
seat  from  the  one  beside  Katie — and  she 
wanted  to  get  back  to  school.  She  had 
apparently  forgotten  now  that  she  had  ever 
known  Katie,  and  was  careful  not  to  give 
her  so  much  as  a  glance  of  recognition  if 
she  passed. 

Auntie  May  had  told  her  that  she  must 
be  exclusive,  and  of  course  that  meant  that 
she  must  not  speak  to  any  one  who  was 
not  aristocratic.  She  and  Beatrice  were 
the  most  aristocratic  girls  in  school,  and 
the  teacher  knew  it;  for  did  she  not  treat 
them  differently  from  the  other  girls? 

If  they  did  not  know,  when  asked,  what 
she  had  been  drilling  the  children  on,  per- 
haps for  days,  she  very  carefully  went  over 
the  work  again.  If  there  were  any  small 
favors  or  privileges  they  always  got  the  lion's 
share.  They  told  each  other  that  they  had 


DODD'S  SISTER.  41 

the  privilege  of  passing  the  drawing  books 
and  being  monitor  on  the  stairs  oftener  than 
any  one  else.  The  teacher  generally  asked 
them  for  the  answers  to  the  easiest  ques- 
tions and  gave  them  the  easiest  words  to 
spell. 

Some  of  the  hateful,  jealous  girls  said 
that  they  were  pets.  Of  course  they  were ! 
Why  shouldn't  they  be? 

Before  the  first  year  was  done  they  came 
to  expect  special  consideration  as  a  matter 
of  course,  and  to  skim  over  the  hard  places. 
Application  was  a  process  that  their  little 
intellects  knew  nothing  about,  for  their 
education  was  conducted  on  the  plan  of 
throwing  facts  at  them  until  they  stuck,  or 
until  a  part  of  them  stuck.  Ruth  sat 
through  that  whole  first  year,  a  target  for 
the  little  homeopathic  pellets  of  human 
knowledge  that  the  teacher  persistently 
threw  at  her. 

Now,  it  takes  no  intellectual  force  to 
make  a  target  of  one's  self  in  this  way,  and 
when  the  fact  that  c-a-t  spells  cat  had  been 


42 

repeated  often  enough  the  child's  intellect 
comprehended  it.  Not  as  a  built-up  thing, 
made  of  parts  that  she  could  take  apart 
and  put  together  again  in  other  forms  and 
with  other  sounds,  but  as  a  thing  that  she 
grasped  as  a  whole,  and  which  it  required 
no  more  intellect  to  comprehend  than  a 
parrot  would  need  to  learn  items  much  less 
simple. 

At  the  end  of  nine  months  of  school  con- 
finement she  could  tell  you  all  the  words 
in  a  small  primer — words  that  had  been  per- 
sistently thrown  at  her  in  the  same  way. 

Then  there  was  that  beautiful  chart  in 
number  work.  That  teacher  had  spent 
hours  in  pasting  on  card-board  first  one 
apple,  trying  to  get  into  those  young  and 
undeveloped  minds  the  idea  of  "one  thing." 
It  was  one  large,  red,  luscious  apple,  such 
as  would  make  the  mouths  of  any  young 
animal  water  with  desire  for  it. 

The  beauty  and  lusciousness  of  it  would 
help  to  transfer  the  idea  of  what  "one  thing" 
alone  and  unassisted  might  look  like. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  43 

When  the  conscience  of  the  teacher  was 
satisfied  that  every  child  in  the  room  could 
fully  comprehend  and  appreciate  the  fact  of 
"one  thing,"  she  turned  a  leaf  and  disclosed 
two  objects.  Now  there  were  two  groups 
of  two  objects — two  girls  and  two  plums, 
and  the  drill  began  in  earnest. 

"If  one  plum  is  taken  from  two  plums, 
how  many  plums  will  remain?  If  one  girl 
and  one  girl  stand  together,  how  many  girls 
will  there  be?  If  two  plums  are  divided  be- 
tween two  little  girls,  how  many  plums  will 
each  little  girl  have?" 

That  teacher  would  not  have  allowed  one 
of  those  children  to  use  the  fingers;  that 
was  tabooed  from  the  childish  study  of 
arithmetic  long  ago;  but  she  substituted 
the  plums  and  dolls  for  the  fingers  and  im- 
agined that  she  was  using  a  method  far  dif- 
ferent from  the  old-fashioned  one. 

The  object  in  view  when  the  departure 
from  the  use  of  the  fingers  was  first  made 
was  to  force  the  child,  as  soon  as  possible, 
into  abstract  thinking,  but  the  abuse  of  the 


44  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

object  work  substituted  has  made  the  condi- 
tions in  teaching  number  work  very  sim- 
ilar to  those  before  the  reform. 

Now  Ruth  could  have  told  her  teacher 
very  quickly  that  if  mamma  gave  her  two 
pennies,  and  papa  gave  her  two  pennies, 
she  would  have  four  pennies.  Moreover 
she  could  have  told  her  that  it  would  take 
one  more  penny,  that  she  had  coaxed  broth- 
er Dodd  for  in  vain,  to  make  enough  pen- 
nies to  buy  a  bag  of  peanuts. 

She  had  not  learned  at  that  time  that  pea- 
nuts were  vulgar.  At  ten  she  would  insist 
that  she  had  never  tasted  a  peanut. 

Ruth  had  not  been  "born  long"  on  fig- 
ures, yet  her  mother  could  have  told  you 
that  while  she  still  lisped  in  baby  notes  she 
knew  two  objects  when  she  saw  them. 

O,  deluded  school  teachers,  do  you  think 
a  child  knows  nothing  when  it  comes  to 
you?  Ask  any  fond  mother  that  question 
and  you  will  soon  find  out  about  it. 

For  three  months  the  young  woman  hung 
that  chart  before  those  little  human  beings, 


DODD'S  SISTER.  45 

and  with  a  hundred  times  the  persistency  of 
Mr.  Smith's  rat  trainer  she  tried  to  impress 
upon  them  what  the  component  parts  of 
four  were — a  thing  they  already  knew. 

The  rat  trainer  could  teach  a  common  rat 
to  fire  a  cannon  or  walk  a  rope  in  two 
weeks,  yet  these  little  intelligent  beings 
could  not  learn  the  component  parts  of 
numbers  under  ten  under  three  months. 

What  difference  did  it  make  that  they 
well  knew  how  many  pennies  in  a  nickel? 
That  would  not  help  the  teacher  out  when 
the  superintendent  came  in  to  inspect  re- 
sults. Now  she  could  call  on  that  pretty 
little  Ruth,  and  have  her  say  in  her  sweetest 
tones, 

"Two  dollies  and  two  dollies  will  make 
four  dollies." 

She  must  have  something  to  make  a  defi- 
nite showing  with,  and  so  term  after  term 
these  little  ones  are  drilled  and  drilled  until 
their  knowledge  is  all  done  up  in  little 
packages,  labeled  and  pigeon-holed  so  as  to 
be  produced  on  demand. 


46  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

It  was  by  this  kind  of  work  that  the  abil- 
ity of  Ruth's  teacher  was  to  be  judged. 
Her  retention  or  promotion  would  depend 
probably  to  a  great  extent  on  what  the  su- 
perintendent said  of  her  work,  and  her  first 
object  must  be  to  drill  the  class  so  as  to 
make  a  ready  and  attractive  display  of  what 
the  children  knew. 

When  our  interests  are  dependent  on  do- 
ing work  in  a  certain  manner,  it  takes  the 
spirit  of  a  martyr  to  sacrifice  outward  suc- 
cess to  inward  convictions. 

Ruth's  teacher  was  not  troubled  in  soul 
with  inward  convictions.  She  was  content 
to  rest  upon  the  superiority  of  those  above 
her  in  authority,  and  felt  no  responsibility 
for  any  method  whatsoever  that  she  was  ex- 
pected to  use.  They  were  given  to  her 
ready-made,  and  she  put  them  on  like  any 
other  garment,  or  used  them  as  she  would 
text  books. 

Were  the  little  intellects  under  her  care 
developing?  Were  they  being  used  in  the 
daily  school  room  work?  She  did  not  know. 


DODD'S   SISTER.  47 

She  did  not  care  a  great  deal.  Much  less 
did  she  care  what  those  same  little  minds 
were  doing  on  the  play-ground. 

Certain  it  was  that  they  were  constantly 
receiving  more  food  for  thought  than  un- 
der the  teacher's  direction  where  they 
worked  for  weeks  at  what  most  of  them 
could  have  learned  in  a  vastly  shorter  time. 

To  make  the  child  think  consciously  was 
the  very  last  result  contemplated.  Ruth 
was  capable  of  thinking.  She  could  go 
through  a  regular  logical  process  when  she 
was  managing  her  small  affairs  at  home; 
but  when  she  came  to  school  nothing  was 
expected  of  her,  not  even  to  remember. 
She  was  simply  drilled  until  she  could  not 
help  remembering. 

Any  pedagogue  imbued  with  the  idea  of 
the  wonders  of  our  new  education  would 
tell  you  that  she  was  infinitely  more  fortu- 
nate than  her  grandmother,  who  learned 
her  letters  at  the  end  of  her  mother's  knit- 
ting needle,  and  was  expected  to  learn  by 
herself  all  that  she  possibly  could. 


48  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

Far  from  it.  Whatever  the  other  faults 
of  her  education,  that  grandmother  was 
compelled  to  think  according  to  her  ca- 
pacity. 

What  a  boon  it  would  have  been  to  Ruth, 
with  her  delicate,  modern  stomach  and  her 
sensitive  American  nerves,  to  have  reveled 
in  fresh  air  and  sunshine  for  a  large  part 
of  her  time,  as  the  A,  B,  C  scholars  of  her 
grandmother's  time  did,  instead  of  sitting 
under  this  constant  fire  of  facts. 

Those  were  the  days  when  that  grand- 
mother was  laying  up  a  store  of  nerve  and 
muscle  for  the  days  of  her  necessity. 

Every  romp  through  the  woods;  every 
breath  of  pure  air  that  she  drew  as  she 
filled  her  apron  with  dandelions  or  scaled 
the  lichens  from  the  old  fence  rails;  every 
ray  of  sunshine  that  browned  her  cheek 
and  sprinkled  freckles  on  her  nose,  were 
strengthening  the  fibre  of  her  small  body, 
and  would  in  the  days  of  her  womanhood 
be  of  infinitely  more  value  to  her  than  all 
the  drill  of  that  primary  room. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  49 

But  Ruth  appeared  to  enjoy  the  school 
work. 

O,  yes,  she  adored  the  young  teacher  who 
dressed  so  prettily  and  entertained  them  so 
nicely  in  the  intermissions  between  the  sea- 
sons of  drilling. 

But  that  is  no  criterion  as  to  the  useful- 
ness of  a  teacher.  The  teacher  most  pop- 
ular with  the  pupils  is  quite  as  often  as 
otherwise  the  teacher  who  has  the  least 
power  to  make  them  think.  Because  she 
can  succeed  in  making  them  obtain  facts 
without  any  conscious  effort  on  their  part, 
she  is  a  delightful  being  to  the  child;  but 
it  no  more  represents  development  than 
teaching  a  parrot  the  same  thing. 

But  Ruth's  mother  would  never  have  be- 
lieved that  the  teacher  who  could  so  attract 
Ruth  to  school  was  anything  but  perfect. 

What  a  delight  to  see  Ruth  start  to  school 
each  morning  eagerly,  with  smiling  face. 

What  a  contrast  to  the  judge's  daughter, 
whose  mother  thought  she  was  so  much 
more  competent  than  the  trained  teacher, 


50  THE   EVOLUTION   OP 

who  called  her  little  daughter  to  come  to 
her  room  each  morning  for  her  lessons. 
What  flouts  and  pouts  and  rebellion,  as 
much  as  were  allowable,  were  heard  and 
seen. 

But  that  same  firm  "You  must"  was  re- 
peated each  morning  until  the  child  sub- 
mitted to  the  inevitable,  not  because  she 
loved  it,  but  because  a  higher  power  willed 
it. 

"Spare  the  rod  and  spoil  the  child" 
sounds  very  harsh  to  modern  ears,  but 
there  is  a  germ  of  truth  in  it  that  will  en- 
dure while  childhood  lasts. 

How  was  it  at  the  end  of  the  first  year 
with  the  judge's  daughter  and  the  minister's 
daughter? 

The  school  girl  could  read-  anything  in 
her  primer  at  sight;  beyond  that  primer 
she  knew  not  one  word. 

The  mother-taught  child  read  with  avid- 
ity from  a  hundred  books  of  childish  inter- 
est. 

Was  there  then  such  a  difference  in  the 


DODD'S   SISTER.  51 

children?  Not  at  all.  One  was  taught  to 
think;  the  other  was  taught  to  repeat. 

The  alphabet  and  multiplication  tables 
may  be  the  foundations  of  all  knowledge, 
but  capacity  for  thinking  is  the  foundation 
of  all  wisdom. 

But  if  the  children  were  not  compelled  to 
think  during  school  hours,  certain  it  is  that 
at  the  times  when  they  were  free  to  asso- 
ciate with  the  children  of  all  grades  their 
minds  were  much  more  active,  their  lessons 
more  graphic,  and  their  impressions  far 
more  lasting. 

What  fun  it  was  to  sit  on  the  front  steps 
munching  their  candies  and  watching  those 
common  girls  romping. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  whispering  and 
giggling  as  Beatrice  would  point  to  some 
faded  dress  and  say, 

"Isn't  that  a  beauty!  I  would  like  to 
wear  it  to  the  club  dance." 

"O,  yes,  I  would  like  to  be  married  in 
it." 


52  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

"And  have  your  hair  tied  with  a  shoe- 
string." 

"O,  yes,  and  blue  stockings." 

"O,  dear,  O,  dear!" 

They  would  have  to  stifle  their  parox- 
ysms of  laughter  in  their  handkerchiefs. 

Then  the  high  school  girls  would  come 
down  and  talk  to  them.  These  girls  had 
gone  through  many  of  the  same  experiences 
that  were  in  prospect  for  these  children,  but 
they  belonged  to  families  where  money  was 
not  abundant  enough  to  provide  the  clothes 
necessary  to  take  the  position  in  school  life 
their  desires  dictated.  They  looked  upon 
beauty  and  wealth  as  the  only  really  de- 
sirable things  in  life,  and  they  showed  these 
two  children,  by  their  constant  attention 
and  admiration,  that  they  considered  them 
superior  to  the  common  children. 

Whenever  they  met  them  they  had  to 
say, 

"O,  Ruth,  what  lovely  curls,"  or  "What 
a  stunning  complexion  you  have,"  or 


DODD'S   SISTER.  53 

"Say,  Beatrice,  do  your  sisters  belong  to 
the  Two-Step  Club?" 

"Of  course  they  do,"  Beatrice  would  say. 

"Do  they  walk,  or  do  their  fellows  come 
to  take  them  in  a  carriage?" 

Beatrice  was  not  at  all  sure,  but  she  did 
not  allow  that  to  influence  her  much. 

"Why,  in  a  carriage,  of  course." 

"Well,  say,  Beatrice,  do  their  fellows 
come  to  see  them  in  the  morning  or  in 
the  evening?" 

She  was  not  quite  clear  which  ought  to 
be  the  proper  time;  so  she  tossed  her  head 
and  said: 

"The  idea!" 

So  the  girls  continued  to  quiz  her  in  re- 
gard to  the  lives  of  those  sisters  until  she 
was  observant  of  all  their  movements,  and 
kept  herself  as  well  informed  as  possible, 
so  as  to  excite  the  admiration  and  envy  of 
these  school  girls. 

To  Ruth  the  life  of  these  elder  sisters  was 
fairy  land.  She  began  to  feel  a  scorn  for 
the  simple  life  at  the  parsonage,  and  de- 


54  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

termined  to  go  and  live  with  Auntie  May 
just  as  soon  as  she  was  old  enough. 

Ruth  and  Beatrice  did  not  spend  their 
time  on  the  play-ground  in  romping  games. 
Ruth  was  afraid  of  spoiling  her  clothes  or 
her  complexion,  and  Beatrice  very  much 
preferred  the  talks  on  the  stairway,  or  in  the 
groups  and  knots  of  the  larger  girls,  where 
such  conversations  were  the  common  thing. 

"I  saw  Mrs.  S out  riding  yesterday 

and  she  had  a  lovely  dress  with  a  parasol  to 
match.  She  don't  have  any  young  ones 
hanging  around  her." 

"Well,  I  guess  she  don't.  She's  too  smart 
for  that." 

"Just  look  at  Mamie  T .  She's  had 

two  since  she  has  been  married,  and  she 
can't  go  to  a  dance  or  anywhere  else." 

"Well,  she  never  did  know  anything.  I 
tell  you,  if  her  father  hadn't  had  the  stuff, 
he'd  never  have  married  her." 

Then  there  were  giggles  and  whispered 
sentences.  When  Ruth  and  Beatrice  want- 
ed to  know  what  was  said,  they  were  made 


DODD'S  SISTER.  55 

to  give  solemn  promises  "never  to  tell,"  and 
the  whispered  sentences  were  passed  on. 
There  was  a  shout  of  amusement  at  the  puz- 
zled look  that  came  into  the  young  faces, 
and  explanations  were  given  that  called 
forth  wondering  "Oh,  my's"  from  the  chil- 
dren. But  these  were  given  only  after  re- 
peated promises  "never  to  tell  their 
mothers."  In  this  way  it  was  that  there 
came  to  those  children  their  first  knowledge 
of  the  most  vital  principle  in  human  exist- 
ence, accompanied  by  suggestions  that  were 
vulgar  and  coarse.  Their  very  first  impres- 
sions, that  should  have  been  as  delicate  as  a 
mother  could  make  them,  and  that  should 
have  been  presented  to  them  free  from  any 
associations  that  would  tend  to  vitiate  their 
sentiments,  were  rendered  distorted  and  un- 
true. 

When  Beatrice's  sister  gave  her  the  beau- 
tiful little  poem  to  read  beginning, 

"Have  you  heard  of  the  valley  of  BABY  LAND, 
The  realm  where  the  dear  little  darlings  stay; 
Till  the  kind  storks  go,  as  all  men  know, 
And  O,  so  tenderly  bear  them  away?" 


56  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

she  brought  it  over  for  Ruth  to  read,  and 
they  giggled  for  a  whole  hour  over  it. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  a  little  new 
comer  was  expected  at  the  parsonage,  and 
the  mother  remarked  to  the  father  one  day, 
"I  dread  Ruth's  questions  when  the  baby 
comes.  She  was  troublesome  enough  last 
time,  and  she  is  two  years  older  now.  I 
can't  bear  to  tell  her  an  untruth,  and  she  is 
so  young  I  hate  to  spoil  her  beautiful  il- 
lusions." 

"Oh,  don't  worry  over  that.  Such  mat- 
ters regulate  themselves,"  the  father  an- 
swered, and  he  felt  that  he  had  said  a  very 
wise  thing. 

"Yes,  I  suppose  they  do.  I  know  that 
she  is  a  peculiarly  pure  minded  child.  I 
never  knew  her  to  say  a  naughty  word  but 
once,  and  that  was  almost  two  years'  ago.  I 
reproved  her  very  severely,  and  told  her 
never  to  say  such  a  thing  to  any  one  again, 
and  I  never  knew  her  to  repeat  it  or  say 
anything  like  it." 

"That  is  the  right  way.    Just  nip   such 


DODO'S  SISTER.  57 

things  in  the  bud  and  they  will  come  out  all 
right." 

But  Ruth's  mother  was  not  annoyed  with 
a  single  question.  The  baby  was  no  surprise 
to  her.  She  expected  it  the  night  that  her 
mother  suggested  that  she  go  over  and  stay 
with  Beatrice. 

Beatrice  had  told  her  many  times  that  it 
was  a  shame  that  they  had  to  have  so  many 
babies  at  their  house  just  because  they  were 
minister's  folks.  Just  as  likely  as  not  she 
would  have  to  stay  in  and  rock  the  baby 
now  instead  of  going  walking  after  school. 

Ruth  felt  that  this  was  all  true  and  that 
it  was  an  imposition  on  her.  She  walked 
into  the  house  in  the  morning  with  con- 
scious dignity,  prepared  to  show  her  disap- 
proval of  the  whole  affair  if  her  fears  should 
be  realized. 

When  she  came  in  her  father  said: 

"Ruth,  God  sent  you  another  brother  last 
night.  Don't  you  want  to  come  in  and  see 
him?" 


58  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

"I  don't  care  to,"  Ruth  answered,  very 
stiffly,  and  went  to  hang  up  her  wraps. 

Realizing  that  such  conduct  would  hurt 
her  mother  the  father  said:  "You  had  better 
go  in  and  see  him  and  speak  to  mamma. 
She  will  want  to  know  that  you  have  come." 

Ruth  walked  in  very  grandly,  and  with- 
out deigning  to  notice  the  little  white  bun- 
dle, said: 

"I  have  come  back,  mamma." 

"Yes,  dear.  Did  you  know  you  had  a 
new  brother?  Here  he  is.  Isn't  he  sweet?" 

Ruth  did  not  answer.  She  asked  no  ques- 
tions, and  showed  no  surprise. 

Her  mother  was  astonished,  and  thought 
her  a  remarkably  sweet  child.  She  had 
never  heard  her  speak  on  any  of  the  sub- 
jects that  are  usually  tabooed  between 
mother  and  child,  and  for  that  reason  she 
supposed  the  child  had  no  thoughts  on  those 
subjects.  She  had  congratulated  herself  at 
the  last  W.  C.  T.  U.  meeting,  when  the  wo- 
man sent  by  the  Union  was  discoursing  on 


DODD'S  SISTER.  59 

the  subject  of  social  purity,  and  in  the 
course  of  her  remarks  said: 

"If  women  would  recognize  this  element 
in  their  girls  as  well  as  in  their  boys,  we 
could  work  so  much  more  intelligently." 

In  her  girl  she  would  have  nothing  of  the 
kind  to  deal  with.  Of  course  when  the 
proper  age  should  come  she  would  impress 
it  upon  her  that  elements  of  that  nature 
were  extremely  degrading.  At  present  it 
was  entirely  unnecessary  to  be  concerned 
about  the  matter  at  all,  for  she  was  sure 
that  Ruth  had  never  had  her  attention  called 
to  any  such  matters,  for  the  child  never 
spoke  of  them.  The  mother  never  dreamed 
that  long  before,  when  she  had  sharply  told 
Ruth  never  to  mention  the  subject  again  to 
any  one,  she  had  sealed  the  child's  mouth 
to  her,  and  kept  her  from  the  very  source 
from  which  her  information  should  have 
come. 

It  is  a  mistaken  idea  that  a  mother  knows 
her  child  better  than  any  one  else.  She 
does  not,  unless  she  has  that  exceedingly 


60  THE  EVOLUTION    OF 

rare  faculty  of  being  able  to  govern  and 
at  the  same  time  to  keep  the  child's  heart 
open  to  her. 

The  fear  of  censure,  the  dread  of  long 
drawn  sermons,  have  kept  many  children 
from  telling  the  mother  the  very  things 
which  they  have  the  most  need  of  knowing. 

Ruth's  mother  considered  it  her  duty  to 
correct  her  children's  wrong-doing  by  long, 
grave  sermons  that  were  referred  to  after 
the  misdemeanor,  until  she  thought  the 
child  was  properly  impressed. 

Very  early  in  her  association  with  Bea- 
trice, Ruth  had  learned  that  discretion  in 
these  matters  was  far  more  comfortable 
than  open  confidence. 

With  considerable  interest  she  had  asked 
her  father  if  he  knew  that  Johnny  Jones' 
father  was  a  miser. 

"Who  says  he  is  a  miser?" 

"Oh,  Beatrice;  and  she  told  him  so  to- 
day." 

"Told  him  so?    Why  did  she  do  that?" 


DODiyS  SISTER.  61 

"Oh,  'cause  he  stuck  his  foot  in  her  tri- 
cycle." 

"Were  you  with  her?"  Ruth's  mother 
asked  her. 

"Yes,  ma'am." 

"What  did  you  say?" 

"Oh,  I  didn't  say  anything.  I  only  stuck 
my  tongue  out  at  him."  The  rebuke  that 
followed  this  confession  was  as  severe  as 
if  to  stick  out  one's  tongue  were  the  first 
step  in  a  career  of  vice,  and  Ruth  drew  be- 
tween herself  and  her  parents  another 
screen.  It  was  this  undue  severity  in  small 
offenses  that  satisfied  the  mother  that  she 
was  doing  her  whole  duty  by  her  children, 
while  graver  things  went  by  unnoticed. 

In  the  hot-house  of  the  public  schools, 
where  her  knowledge  was  being  forced  in 
many  ways  beyond  her  childish  years, 
where  the  sweetness  and  innocency  of  her 
very  tender  age  were  being  colored  and  dis- 
torted by  contact  with  ideas  and  feelings  far 
beyond  her,  she  needed  the  closest  contact 
with  a  wise  mother  heart. 


62  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

But  the  mother  was  entirely  ignorant  of 
these  conditions,  and  one  of  the  first  lessons 
that  Ruth  learned  was  to  conceal  from  her 
the  very  things  in  which  she  most  needed 
her  advice. 

Mothers  have  been  trained  for  genera- 
tions to  consider  any  interest  in  the  greatest 
question  in  nature  on  the  part  of  the  woman 
as  indicative  of  the  woman's  eternal  dis- 
grace. 

If  this  is  seen  in  a  girl,  they  say  that  it 
signifies  a  low  nature,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
hardest  things  to  make  a  mother  believe.  If 
they  see  it  in  a  son,  they  are  grieved,  to  be 
sure,  but  comfort  themselves  with  the 
thought  that  it  is  very  much  like  boys.  No 
matter  how  low  or  foolish  a  thing  a  boy 
may  do,  he  hears  that  "it  is  just  like  a  boy," 
and  he  is  very  soon  convinced  that  nothing 
much  is  expected  of  him  in  this  regard. 

It  is  this  difference  in  the  ideal  that  is  set 
before  the  girl  and  the  boy  during  their 
years  of  development  that  is  one  of  the  most 
potent  factors  in  their  final  difference  of 


DODD'S  SISTER.  63 

moral  perception.  Occasionally  there  has 
been  a  mother  wise  enough  to  withhold  her 
rebuke  or  instruction  until  some  other  time 
than  the  moment  of  confidence,  and  has  dis- 
covered startling  facts  of  what  her  little  girl 
has  been  learning  at  school. 

She  has  been  able  perhaps  by  careful  ex- 
planations, by  revealing  as  much  of  the 
truth  as  she  has  deemed  wise,  to  instruct  her 
child  in  such  a  manner  that  the  pernicious 
influence  of  contact  with  the  minds  that  in- 
terpret nature  basely  has  failed  to  make  any 
lasting  impression.  Most  mothers,  like 
most  teachers,  are  blind,  deaf  and  dumb  to 
the  verbal  commerce  of  the  recess. 

Ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  mother,  a 
lack  of  a  right  feeling  of  responsibility  (to- 
gether with  a  foolish  modesty)  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher  was  gradually  deforming  the 
moral  constitution  of  this  child. 

She  had  now  reached  an  age  beyond 
childish  things.  Her  companions  were  no 
longer  playmates.  They  were  classed  to- 
gether as  distinctly  as  were  the  young  men 


64  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

and  women  ten  years  their  seniors.  Ruth 
and  Beatrice  had  a  clique  of  their  own,  and 
any  other  little  girl  not  considered  worthy 
of  their  recognition  they  could  cut  with  all 
the  hauteur  of  a  hardened  society  dame. 

They  measured  a  girl  by  her  clothes,  by 
her  artificial  airs,  by  the  way  she  curled 
her  hair,  by  her  style  and  by  her  desire  to 
have  "regular  company."  Her  grandmoth- 
er and  vulgar  little  girls  might  talk  about 
beaux,  but  that  was  very  far  below  them. 
They  had  "regular  company."  , 

Ruth's  curls  were  patted  and  petted  with 
as  much  solicitude  as  they  would  have  re- 
ceived from  the  most  aspiring  young  society 
lady. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Ruth's  father 
moved  into  the  country.  When  it  was  an- 
nounced at  the  supper  table  that  the  next 
year  the  family  would  spend  with  Grandpa 
Stebbin,  the  tears  came  to  Ruth's  eyes,  and 
her  heart  sunk  with  as  great  a  sense  of 
misery  as  it  did  in  after  years  over  greater 
sorrows. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  65 

"Why,  just  think,  Ruth,  you  can  have  all 
the  golden-rod  that  you  can  wear  now.  I 
wouldn't  feel  so  badly.  Mamma  remembers 
such  delightful  times  when  she  was  a  little 
girl  on  the  farm.  You  can't  have  Beatrice, 
of  course,  but  cousin  Katie  is  there.  She  is 
a  sweet  little  girl." 

But  it  was  all  in  vain.  She  went  from 
the  table  to  her  own  little  room  and  cried 
until  there  were  no  tears  left,  and  only 
broken  sobs  told  of  her  grief. 

She  could  not  have  told  that  wild  flowers 
were  only  dear  to  her  when  she  wore  them 
in  the  belt  of  her  white  dress,  and  people 
stopped  her  to  say: 

"Well,  I  don't  know  which  is  prettiest,  the 
flowers  or  the  sweet  little  face." 

The  fresh  air  was  more  liable  to  spoil  her 
complexion  than  to  do  anything  else,  and 
as  for  cousin  Katie,  she  knew  she  would 
be  a  horrid,  pokey,  countrified  thing. 

What  were  woods,  if  her  set  couldn't  have 
a  picnic  in  them?  Or  a  coasting  hill  with  a 


66  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 

lot  of  country  boys  that  never  knew  how  to 
be  nice  to  a  girl? 

And  the  sobs  would  begin  again. 

She  did  not  go  to  see  Beatrice  for  several 
days,  and  then  she  suffered  agonies  of  mor- 
tification to  have  to  tell  her  that  they  were 
going  to  live  in  the  country. 

Beatrice  poured  out  all  the  sympathy  that 
she  could  command,  and  finally  suggested 
that  she  write  to  Auntie  May,  and  see  if  she 
could  not  help  her. 

The  childish  letter  of  woe  brought  a  ready 
response,  and  Mr.  Weaver's  sister  again 
urged  that  Ruth  be  allowed  to  come  and 
stay  with  her,  through  the  winter  at  least. 

Consent  was  finally  given  to  this,  and 
Ruth,  radiant  with  joy,  left  for  her  winter 
home  in  the  city. 

.In  the  school  in  the  city  she  found  a  class, 
or  "set,"  as  she  called  it,  that  corresponde-1 
with  the  one  to  which  she  had  belonged. 
Their  clothes  were  more  elaborate,  they  had 
more  money  to  spend,  but  their  conversa- 
tion and  moral  influence  were  just  as 


DODD'S   SISTER.  67 

pernicious  as  were  those  in  the  smaller 
school. 

She  spent  only  three  months  here  before 
the  holidays,  and  returned  to  pass  that  week 
with  her  parents. 

Only  three  months;  but  in  that  time  her 
fond  auntie  with  solicitous  care  had  kept 
her  mind  on  dress  and  fashionable  amuse- 
ments, and  had  rendered  her  more  than  ever 
devoted  to  the  artificial  life  that  she  had  be- 
gun so  early. 

In  the  country  she  found  it  hard  to  be 
polite  to  the  people  she  met.  The  Christ- 
mas tree  and  the  simple  Christmas  pleas- 
ures filled  her  small  soul  with  disgust;  and 
when  one  of  the  assistants  called  out  "Ruth 
Weaver,"  and  brought  her  from  the  tree  a 
little  doll  dressed  by  her  grandmother's  lov- 
ing hands,  she  thought  it  "perfectly  dread- 
ful," and  was  so  glad  that  none  of  the  girls 
could  know  anything  about  it. 

She  looked  with  disgust  at  cousin  Katie, 
showing  its  twin  sister  with  evident  pride  to 
her  companions.  What  would  Beatrice 


68  THE   EVOLUTION  OP 

think  of  it?  And  she  thought  of  last  Christ- 
mas morning  when  she  had  seen  Beatrice 
turning  up  her  nose  in  scorn  at  the  hand- 
some doll  that  had  been  given  her. 

"Just  as  if  she  were  a  baby!"  she  said. 

At  home  she  did  not  attempt  to  conceal 
from  her  grandmother  the  fact  that  she  was 
far  above  dolls. 

"I  thought  you  had  no  doll  and  that 
maybe  you  would  like  one  if  you  had  it. 
Katie  liked  hers,  didn't  she?" 

"Oh,  yes,  of  course,"  said  Ruth  indiffer- 
ently. Then  with  fine  scorn  she  said: 

"And  papa,  do  you  know  that  some  of 
those  children  really  thought  that  Santa 
Claus  put  those  things  on  the  tree  for  them? 
How  ridiculous!" 

"It's  a  very  foolish  thing,"  her  father 
answered,  "to  put  such  notions  into  chil- 
dren's heads.  I  should  like  to  have  been 
there  and  told  the  exact  truth  to  those  chil- 
dren. I  wonder  that  parents  do  not  realize 
the  harm  that  they  do  to  children  in  filling 
their  heads  with  such  nonsense." 


DODD'S  SISTER.  69 

"What  harm  do  they  do,  William?"  the 
grandmother  asked. 

"What  harm?  Why,  mother,  I  am  as- 
tonished that  you  ask  such  a  question.  They 
tell  an  untruth  to  their  children,  and  not 
only  do  the  harm  that  an  untruth  always 
does,  but  they  shatter  the  children's  con- 
fidence in  their  veracity.  When  a  child  dis- 
covers that  its  parents  have  told  a  falsehood, 
it  can  never  have  the  same  confidence  in 
them  as  before.  And  then  there  is  absolute- 
ly no  use  in  it.  It  certainly  does  the  child 
no  good." 

"Why,  I  think  it  does  a  great  deal  of 
good.  It  helps  to  make  Christmas  enjoy- 
able for  one  thing.  I  found  out  a  long  time 
ago  that  of  all  the  theories  that  I  started 
out  with  for  raising  my  family,  there  is  only 
one  that  has  stood  the  wear  and  tear,  and 
that  is  let  the  children  have  all  the  good 
times  they  can.  As  to  making  them  think 
that  we  were  not  to  be  depended  upon, — 
Mary,  how  was  that?  Did  you  ever  lay  that 
up  against  me?" 


70  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

"Well,  no,  mother,  I  don't  think  that  we 
did.  I'm  very  sure  that  we  children  al- 
ways depended  upon  your  word  and  father's 
as  though  it  were  law.  The  little  German 
children  always  believe  in  Santa  Claus." 

"Oh,  well,  the  Germans  are  a  myth-lov- 
ing people;  very  different  from  us  Ameri- 
cans." 

Grandma  Stebbins  knew  nothing  about 
myth-loving,  but  she  did  know  that  every 
child  that  is  robbed  of  its  Santa  Claus  has 
lost  something  of  real  value. 

Why  should  we  sacrifice  even  the  pleas- 
ures of  our  little  ones  to  this  craze  for  the 
realistic? 

The  winter  went  by,  the  beautiful  spring 
was  come  again,  and  Ruth  was  sent  for  to 
spend  the  remaining  time  of  her  father's  va- 
cation in  the  country. 

Auntie  May  consoled  her  in  every  way 
she  could,  and  at  last  promised  her  that  if 
she  would  not  feel  too  bad  she  would  send 
her  a  piano  just  as  soon  as  her  hands  were 
large  enough  to  reach  an  octave. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  71 

It  was  a  great  trial  to  leave  her  beautiful 
home.  She  felt  that  she  belonged  there; 
that  she  had  been  created  for  just  such  a 
life,  and  that  to  have  to  go  into  the  "horrid 
country"  was  an  imposition. 

When  she  found  herself  sitting  beside  her 
little  trunk  in  the  small  room  at  Grandpa 
Stebbins',  she  opened  it  and  looked  at  each 
memento  of  her  school  friends  with  an  air 
of  melancholy  that  might  have  been  be- 
stowed upon  a  long  lost  sister. 

There  was  the  half  of  a  ten  cent  piece  that 
she  and  Beatrice  had  divided  as  pledges  of 
their  eternal  friendship.  There  was  a  hick- 
ory nut  with  a  face  carved  on  one  side,  a 
memento  of  their  last  picnic.  There  were 
some  dried  roses  that  had  been  thrown  to 
her  at  the  last  school  exhibition.  There 
were  these  and  a  score  of  other  little  treas- 
ures. 

She  looked  them  all  over  caressingly,  and 
the  sobs  came  very  thick  as  she  looked  out 
of  her  window  down  the  dusty  lonesome 


72  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

road.  Her  grandmother  called  her  at  the 
stairway: 

"The  turkeys  are  coming  home,  Ruth. 
Don't  you  want  to  go  out  with  baby  and 
me  to  see  them?" 

Ruth  went  down,  not  that  turkeys  had 
any  attraction,  but  that  it  was  insufferable 
to  remain  where  she  was  any  longer. 

"Yes,  dear,"  the  mother  said,  "you  will 
like  to  see  the  turkeys.  Mamma  always 
used  to  watch  for  them  to  come  home  when 
she  was  a  little  girl." 

She  met  her  grandfather  in  the  yard. 

"What!  Crying,  little  one?  Oh,  that  will 
never  do.  You'll  spoil  those  pretty  blue 
eyes.  Those  were  only  meant  to  smile 
with."  That  was  the  first  drop  of  healing  on 
her  wounded  heart,  and  it  brought  the  faint 
ghost  of  a  smile. 

But  the  turkeys  and  cows  and  young 
lambs  and  even  the  playful  kittens  were  of 
no  avail.  She  had  no  heart  for  anything  of 
the  kind.  She  gathered  her  dress  around 


DODD'S  SISTER.  73 

her,  and  was  in  constant  fear  that  it  might 
get  soiled. 

The  children  started  off  to  school  the 
next  morning.  The  grandfather  took  them 
over  in  the  big  wagon,  "until  Ruth  should 
get  used  to  the  walk." 

"Now  you  won't  be  lonesome  any  more," 
he  said  as  he  unloaded  them  at  the  gate. 
"Here's  your  little  cousin,  Katie.  She's  just 
the  nicest  kind  of  a  little  girl.  Now  go  get 
acquainted  as  fast  as  you  can.  She'll  soon 
loosen  your  little  tongue  and  you'll  be  the 
best  kind  of  friends  in  ten  minutes." 

Katie  stood  bashful  and  smiling,  with  a 
heart  full  of  welcome  and  kindness  for  this 
little  city  cousin. 

But  for  Ruth  one  glance  was  enough. 
Be  friends  in  ten  minutes,  indeed!  As  if  she 
could  ever  be  friends  with  a  girl  who  had 
her  hair  combed  straight  back  from  her 
forehead,  and  a  gingham  apron  on,  and 
great  heavy  shoes!  She  did  not  dare  to 
"cut"  her  as  she  wanted  to,  but  Katie  under- 


74  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

stood  very  distinctly  at  the  first  glance  that 
she  was  regarded  as  an  inferior  being. 

"Now  take  her  up  to  the  school,  Katie, 
and  let  her  get  acquainted  with  the  teacher 
and  the  other  girls.  Be  good  to  her,  for  she 
is  a  little  bit  home-sick  you  know." 

Home-sick !  It  was  a  magic  word.  Katie 
had  been  home-sick  once  when  her  mother 
had  left  her  for  a  whole  week,  and  she 
knew  the  full  meaning  of  that  dreadful 
malady.  So  it  was  with  a  heart  full  of  sym- 
pathy that  she  walked  with  Ruth  up  to  the 
school  house,  and  in  her  simple,  child-like 
way,  told  the  teacher  who  she  was.  Ruth 
wrote  to  Beatrice  that  that  introduction  was 
just  killing.  When  the  children  were  seat- 
ed, Ruth  had  an  opportunity  to  study  the 
teacher  in  her  accustomed  analytic  way. 
The  result  was  certainly  shocking  to  her. 

She  wrote  to  Beatrice  that  the  teacher 
was  a  regular  Irish  girl,  and  her  face  was 
full  of  freckles,  and  she  knew  that  her  com- 
plexion had  never  had  a  bit  of  care,  and  O, 
dear!  she  wished  she  could  see  her  waist. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  75 

Well  she  just  knew  she  didn't  have  any 
corset  on  at  all,  and  her  skirt  had  three 
ruffles  on, — just  to  think!  three  ruffles! 
And  she  had  a  lace  ruffle  on  her  neck,  and 
her  hair  was  braided  and  twisted  in  a  little 
wad.  Well,  it  was  simply  dreadful!  "I 
thought  I  never  could  stand  it  till  I  wrote 
to  you,"  she  concluded. 

The  teacher  began  to  make  inquiry  as  to 
Ruth's  work.  She  had  no  trouble  with  her, 
for  Ruth  had  a  strong  suspicion  that  she 
knew  a  great  deal  more  than  the  teacher. 
She  sent  her  to  the  black-board,  and  as- 
signed her  a  task  in  arithmetic  which  it 
seemed  that  she  ought  to  be  able  to  per- 
form. Ruth  looked  at  it  blankly. 

"Don't  you  know  how  to  do  that  work?" 

"No,  ma'am." 

"What  have  you  done  in  arithmetic?" 

"We  have  had  mostly  number  work." 

"Oh,  number  work.  What  did  you  do  in 
number  work?" 

"We  could  add  and  subtract  and  multiply 


76  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

and  divide  anything  without  the  slate  or 
black-board." 

Ruth  said  this  with  all  the  dignity  that  she 
could  command.  It  was  ridiculous  to  have 
those  country  gawks  looking  at  her  as  if 
she  didn't  know  anything  when  she  had  al- 
ways been  one  of  the  best  in  her  class.  She 
wished  to  impress  them  with  the  abundance 
of  her  knowledge. 

"Well,  you  may  sit  down  and  I  will  see 
about  your  arithmetic  later." 

The  fact  was  that  Ruth  had  been  drilled 
from  the  primary  grade  up  in  the  combina- 
tion of  numbers,  and  her  knowledge  of 
arithmetical  processes  was  far  behind  that 
of  the  children  in  the  country  school.  They 
called  this  work  the  mental  discipline  of  the 
school,  and  every  teacher  firmly  believed 
that  this  constant  drill  was  increasing  the 
capacity  of  the  pupils  for  systematic  think- 
ing. It  stood  in  striking  contrast  to  the 
memory  work  of  geography  and  history. 
Ruth  could  add,  subtract,  multiply  and  di- 
vide with  remarkable  rapidity. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  77 

, 
There  are  other  machines  that  can  do  the 

same. 

If  one  is  planning  for  a  life  work  as  a 
cashier  or  book-keeper,  no  doubt  the  ma- 
chine method  is  convenient,  but  as  a  means 
for  developing  the  thinking  powers  of  a 
child,  it  is  a  failure.  No  child  could  ever 
comprehend  the  component  parts  of  49. 
Even  a  matured  mind  can  not  grasp  as  a 
whole  any  quantity  beyond  4.  As  soon  as 
it  exceeds  this,  it  must  be  separated  into  its 
parts. 

Ruth  had  learned  that  six  fives  make  thir- 
ty, but  that  had  involved  little  reasoning 
power.  She  had  learned  the  component 
parts  of  every  number  under  100,  and  of 
some  far  beyond  it,  and  she  could  have  gone 
on  indefinitely. 

But  she  had  merely  learned  it: — learned 
it  just  as  she  learned  the  facts  of  geography. 
It  was  largely  memory  work  after  all.  Some 
children  can  perform  this  work  more  quick- 
ly than  others  because  they  have  a  readier 
memory  for  facts. 


78  THE   EVOLUTION  OP 

PURE   FACT— MEMORY  IS   OFTEN 
COUNTED  FOR  MATHEMATI- 
CAL ABILITY. 

The  child  that  is  most  apt  in  number 
work  may  lack  much  of  being  a  good  ma- 
thematician. Mathematics  and  numbers  are 
no  more  related  than  history  and  dates. 

One  is  a  matter  of  memory;  the  other  is 
science. 

To  understand  why  one  when  reduced 
makes  ten  of  the  next  lower  order  requires 
some  degree  of  logical  thought,  and  the 
child  that  has  been  drilled  merely  in  number 
work  has  not  had  the  right  discipline  for  its 
comprehension. 

This  number  work  has  always  held  a 
higher  place  in  the  education  of  children 
than  it  deserves,  but  at  present  some  of  our 
educators  are  going  frantic  over  it. 

Fortunately  for  Ruth,  the  teacher  had 
patience  and  tact,  and  though  the  scornful 
little  nose  was  in  the  air  at  the  beginning  of 
the  lessons,  she  was  soon  working  dili- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  79 

gently,  and  for  the  first  time  in  her  life  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  she  was  person- 
ally responsible  for  learning  the  thing  as- 
signed her.  She  was  getting  real  mental 
development  in  those  months  as  she  came 
in  contact  with  a  teacher  who  had  the  rare 
faculty  of  teaching  children. 

It  was  a  revelation  to  Ruth  that  there 
could  be  anything  of  worth  in  a  woman  who 
had  an  evident  scorn  for  "style"  and  who 
forgot  her  complexion  to  such  an  extent 
that  she  would  stand  in  the  sunshine  and 
play  "anti-over"  with  the  children. 

It  is  our  misfortune  that  the  law  of  sup- 
ply and  demand  that  governs  the  trade  mar- 
kets does  not,  and  can  not,  give  us  enough 
natural  teachers;  teachers  that  like  the 
poets  are  born  and  not  made.  This  young 
woman  did  not  get  this  faculty  for  putting 
herself  in  sympathy  with  the  various  na- 
tures of  the  children  under  her  charge  from 
any  institute  or  Normal  School,  although 
she  had  some  knowledge  of  their  methods. 
The  Institutions  of  Method  may  multiply 


80  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

themselves  in  vain  in  their  efforts  to  mould 
into  true  teachers  the  greater  part  of  the 
clay  that  comes  into  their  hands.  We  must 
take  what  we  can  get  to  fill  the  vacant 
places,  but  certain  it  is,  there  is  not  enough 
material  to  go  round. 

Ruth  found  on  the  play  ground,  as  well 
as  in  the  school  room,  a  new  delight  in  free, 
unaffected  natures.  After  the  first  painfully 
embarrassing  days  were  past,  when  Ruth 
stood  in  silent  disdain  of  these  uncultured 
children,  and  they  somewhat  in  awe  of  her, 
when  she  had  not  a  confidant  to  whom  she 
could  ridicule  them,  and  she  was  compelled 
to  be  friends  at  last,  her  bright  blue  eyes 
and  golden  curls  opened  the  way  for  her 
into  each  boyish  heart. 

A  bunch  of  the  first  violets,  or  a  young 
robin  that  had  been  captured  on  its  first 
excursion  from  its  nest,  or  the  ripest,  red- 
dest strawberries,  were  brought  and  shyly 
offered  to  her. 

Katie  was  delighted  with  every  attention 
that  was  given  to  her  pretty  cousin.  Her 


DODD'S  SISTER.  81 

own  nature  was  steeped  in  that  loveliness 
that  includes  all  humanity  in  its  affection. 

When  she  grew  to  womanhood  they 
called  her  "motherly." 

But  while  those  little  country  boys  liked 
her,  not  one  of  them  would  give  his  pet 
squirrel  to  see  her  smile. 

By  and  by  Ruth  began  to  forget  that  there 
was  so  much  of  a  difference  in  their  social 
standing.  As  the  out-door  sport  began  to 
develop  a  latent  power  for  enjoyment,  she 
would  for  long  hours  completely  forget  to 
be  "stylish,"  and  actually  learned  to  scream 
with  real  girlish  delight. 

It  was  in  the  fall  that  Auntie  May  came 
into  the  country  to  visit  her  brother's  fami- 
ly. She  confessed  herself  shocked  to  see 
Ruth.  "Who  ever  could  have  believed  that 
a  child  could  change  so?  I  always  thought 
her  a  wonderfully  stylish  child.  She  had 
such  an  air.  Now  she  moves  along  just  like 
any  common  child." 

Grandma  Stebbins  did  not  like  this  talk 


82  THE  EVOLUTION   OF 

before  Ruth.  It  had  a  false  ring  to  her 
honest  ears. 

"We  think  the  child  has  improved  very 
much  in  the  country.  She  is  surely  health- 
ier." 

Auntie  May  had  little  interest  in  a  ques- 
tion of  so  small  importance  as  a  child's 
health,  and  she  gave  little  heed  to  grandma's 
remark.  "Can  it  be  possible  that  that  is 
Ruth!" 

And  Auntie  May  held  up  her  hands  as 
she  heard  a  scream,  and  saw  Ruth  mount- 
ing high  up  in  the  branches  of  the  locust, 
as  her  big  cousin  ran  under  the  swing. 

"When  she  was  with  me  I  never  knew  her 
to  do  anything  so  rude.  She  was  such  a  lady. 
I  hoped,  when  I  came  out  here,  to  get  her 
started  in  music,  but  of  course  she  will  have 
to  wait  now  until  the  folks  move.  She  can't 
practice  on  that  old  organ.  I  am  going  to 
send  her  my  piano.  I  expect  to  have  a  new 
one." 

"Has  Ruth  any  gift  for  music?"  grandma 
inquired. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  83 

"One  can't  tell  how  much  she  may  have; 
but  we'll  have  her  practice  faithfully  for  a 
few  years,  and  we  will  find  out.  One  don't 
require  much  gift  if  one  is  diligent." 

In  accordance  with  Auntie  May's  pro- 
gram, one  of  the  first  things  after  the  family 
were  settled  in  the  city  again  was  to  hunt  a 
music  teacher,  and  Ruth  was  set  to  do  tread- 
mill service  at  the  piano. 

The  morning  hours  were  always  too  full 
for  practice,  and  the  time  that  Ruth  prom- 
ised faithfully  to  allot  to  the  exercise  was 
just  after  school,  from  four  o'clock  to  five. 
From  day  to  day  she  drummed  away  at  this 
hour.  Evidently  no  spark  of  the  divine  fire 
had  lodged  in  her  soul,  but  the  finger  exer- 
cises, the  scales  and  amusements  were  de- 
votedly gone  over  and  over  until  every 
member  of  the  household  fairly  shivered 
when  they  heard  the  first  note  of  the  prac- 
tice hour. 

Parson  Weaver  in  his  study  would  scowl, 
and  feel  an  intense  impulse  to  order  the 
piano  shut ;  but  the  thought  that  his  daugh- 


84  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

ter,  like  any  other  young  lady  with  aspira- 
tions, must  learn  to  play  on  the  piano,  re- 
strained him. 

The  neighbors  heard  that  iterated  "trum- 
trum"  until  they  would  have  felt  delight  if 
a  bonfire  had  taken  off  all  the  pianos  that 
were  ever  made. 

But  no  matter;  it  began  at  ten  years  of 
age  and  lasted  regularly  until  twenty-two, 
and  intermittently  for  years  after,  and  to  no 
one  concerned  was  it  ever  anything  but 
"trum-trum."  To  no  one  at  least  except  the 
music  teacher  who  was  putting  Auntie 
May's  dollars  into  her  pocket. 

In  the  name  of  all  that  is  reasonable,  why 
not  make  the  girls  mount  birds,  or  train 
dogs,  or  write  poems,  or  carve  statues,  or 
do  some  work  that  requires  skill,  as  well  as 
keep  them  everlasting  pounding  on  a  piano? 
It  would  crucify  the  feelings  of  those  around 
them  less,  it  would  be  of  just  as  much  value 
to  the  girls,  it  would  be  less  injurious  to 
their  health,  and  would  cost  far  less  money. 

Blessed  be  the  memory  of  the  woman  who 


DODD'S   SISTER.  85 

will  bring  our  girls  and  their  foolish  parents 
to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  folly  of  forcing 
every  girl,  irrespective  of  aptitude,  to  play 
the  piano.  But  the  piano  drumming  had 
just  begun.  After  a  few  weeks  Ruth  be- 
came acquainted  with  the  "stylish"  girls  in 
school. 

The  afternoon  hour  was  soon  devoted  to 
amusement  in  their  company,  and  the  prac- 
ticing was  crowded  into  the  evening.  Tired, 
nervous  and  cross,  she  played  the  finger 
exercises,  the  scales  and  the  amusements 
over  and  over  again. 

Understand,  this  was  done  of  her  own 
free  will;  she  needed  neither  compulsion 
nor  urging;  and  all  this  not  because  of  the 
least  love  of  the  art,  but  because  it  was  "the 
proper  thing." 

After  a  while  came  recitals,  when  people 
came  to  hear  music.  Some  came  because 
their  daughters  were  going  to  play;  some 
because  they  loved  music. 

And  how  many  of  the  twenty  young  girls 
who  were  to  entertain  them  had  any  trace  of 


86  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

the  divine  gift?  Certain  it  is  that  a  great 
many  did  not.  They  played  the  selections 
that  they  had  practiced  for  many  weary 
hours,  and  the  audience  sat  in  polite  endur- 
ance. A  sigh  of  relief  and  faint  applause 
followed  their  efforts. 

Their  music  was  not  a  delight,  and  they 
paid  for  it  with  time  and  strength  and 
nerve  power  that  might  have  equipped  them 
with  attainments  of  real  value  to  them. 

The  ennobling  influence  of  music  can 
hardly  be  over-estimated,  but  it  is  good 
music  that  ennobles,  and  not  the  mechani- 
cally acquired  parody  on  it.  As  well  set 
every  girl  in  the  country  to  writing  poetry 
for  one  hour  each  day,  and  compel  the  rest 
of  us  to  read  it,  as  to  have  the  air  filled  with 
the  notes  of  this  universal,  indiscriminate 
and  everlasting  piano  practice. 

There  may  be  some  excuse  for  mistakes 
in  estimating  the  capacity  of  a  child  for 
some  things,  but  the  aptitude  for  music, 
or  the  lack  of  it,  manifests  itself  in  the  early 
years,  and  to  allow  a  child  to  expend  months 


DODD'S  SISTER.  87 

of  time  and  stores  of  nervous  energy  in  a 
futile  effort  to  become  a  real  musician, — 
what  is  it  if  not  folly?  To  force  a  child  to 
do  so, — what  is  it  if  not  cruelty?  But  Ruth 
would  have  sacrificed  a  great  deal  for  her 
piano  practice.  Not  to  do  the  thing  that  the 
other  girls  did,  or  not  to  dress  as  they 
dressed  would  be  everlasting  disgrace. 

When  the  sewing  girl  came  to  the  parson- 
age, if  the  little  garments  were  not  fashioned 
with  proper  sleeve  and  collar,  there  was 
sure  to  be  a  battle. 

"I  shall  be  mortified  to  death  to  wear  that 
old  fashioned  thing.  I  know  Auntie  May 
would  think  it  just  dreadful  for  me  to  go 
to  school  looking  as  if  I  came  from  the 
country." 

The  sewing  girl  had  once  interposed  with, 
"Little  girls  ought  to  wear  what  their  moth- 
ers think  best.  I  am  sure  when  I  was  a 
little  girl  I  would  have  thought  this  a  very 
nice  dress  to  wear  to  school." 

"No  doubt  you  would,"  was  Ruth's  signi- 
ficant reply,  and  she  drew  her  mother  into 


88  THE   EVOLUTION  OP 

the  next  room  to  have  the  discussion  alone. 
Now  strange  it  may  seem,  but  the  most  po- 
tent argument  that  decided  the  mother  in 
Ruth's  favor  was  that  effort  of  the  seam- 
stress to  convince  Ruth  that  the  dress  was 
good  enough  for  her.  All  the  mother's  im- 
pulses rushed  to  the  child's  relief.  Who  can 
analyze  that  mother  instinct,  that  upon  the 
least  opposition  to  the  child,  lets  judgment 
go  to  the  winds,  and  arrays  all  her  forces 
on  the  side  of  the  child? 

Ruth  understood  this,  and  she  knew  that 
her  mother  would  yield  in  time  if  there  were 
but  tears  and  grief  enough. 

And  the  seamstress  knew  it,  too,  and  laid 
aside  the  disputed  piece  of  goods. 

"The  idea,  mamma!  How  I  shall  look! 
And  she  seems  to  think  there  is  no  differ- 
ence between  her  and  me.  Do  you  want  me 
to  look  as  if  I  were  going  to  be  a  sewing 
girl?  Auntie  May  says  I  have  a  place  to 
make  in  society,  and  that  my  clothes  ought 
to  have  some  care.  And  Beatrice  has  a 
lovely  new  henrietta  with  lined  sleeves.  It's 


DODD'S  SISTER.  89 

just  lovely.  And  I  have  to  wear  those  lit- 
tle skimpy  sleeves.  Oh,  dear."  Another 
shower  of  tears. 

"Why,  those  will  be  quite  nice.  I  wouldn't 
feel  so  badly  about  it,  dear.  If  you  behave 
yourself  prettily  and  are  a  good  girl,  no 
one  will  think  any  the  less  of  you  if  your 
sleeves  are  not  so  large."  She  might  just 
as  well  have  used  this  argument  with  a 
girl  of  sixteen.  Ruth  knew  better  than  her 
mother  that  that  statement  was  not  true 
with  regard  to  the  girls  who  were  her  as- 
sociates. She  would  not  be  held  in  as  high 
esteem.  The  circumference  of  her  sleeve 
was  a  matter  of  vital  importance.  Her 
mother  talked  to  her  as  if  she  were  merely 
a  normally  developed  child.  As  if  her 
thoughts  and  feelings  were  those  of  a  child 
such  as  she  herself  had  been  at  ten  years, 
or  as  was  the  judge's  little  daughter  who 
slept  with  her  dollies  and  rolled  a  hoop. 

She  was  far  from  right.  It  would  have 
been  a  crucifixion  of  her  feelings  to  have 
been  compelled  to  wear  clothes  different 


90  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

from  those  of  her  companions.  There  were 
enough  girls  in  the  school  who  still  wore 
gingham  aprons,  but  they  were  girls  whom 
Ruth  felt  to  be  her  social  inferiors.  She 
felt  these  things  just  as  keenly  as  if  she  had 
been  as  matured  in  body  as  in  mind.  There 
was  nothing  to  her  in  life  to  be  more  de- 
sired than  to  be  considered  as  belonging 
to  the  "proud  and  stylish"  set,  and  it  was 
just  as  real  to  her  as  it  was  to  her  admired 
Auntie  May. 

The  tears  and  pleading  prevailed. 

The  mother  went  back  to  the  sewing- 
room,  and  trying  to  hide  any  consciousness 
of  having  been  defeated,  said: 

"You  may  put  that  piece  in  the  sleeves. 
I  will  get  a  new  piece  of  velvet  for  the 
bertha." 

"Very  well,"  was  all  the  seamstress  an- 
swered; but  she  told  the  family  at  home 
that  evening  that  the  importance  of  that 
stuck-up  little  Ruth  was  something  ridicu- 
lous. 

She  had  the  feelings  and  aspirations  of  a 


DODD'S  SISTER.  91 

girl  years  her  senior,  and  the  matter  of  dress 
was  only  one  of  the  ways  in  which  they 
showed  themselves.  But  this  was  not  the 
most  offensive  way.  Had  her  mother  seen 
her  on  the  school  ground,  even  her  blinded 
eyes  would  have  been  opened  to  the  fact 
that  there  was  something  vitally  wrong  in 
the  development  of  her  child.  With  her 
own  ideas  of  maidenly  propriety,  ideas  that 
had  been  handed  down  to  her  from  genera- 
tions of  modest  women,  she  would  have 
been  shocked  at  the  moral  deformity,  if  she 
could  have  realized  the  real  feelings  and 
motives  that  prompted  Ruth  and  her  girl 
friends  in  their  behavior. 

The  girls  in  gingham  aprons  could  be 
found  playing  "Old  Pompey  is  dead,"  or 
even  "Crack  the  Whip,"  but  the  exclusive 
set  were  far  beyond  that.  They  arranged 
themselves  in  couples,  and  set  out  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  boys  on  the  opposite 
side.  They  first  promenaded  the  sidewalk, 
arm  in  arm,  and  talked  and  laughed  with  all 
imaginable  coquettish  airs. 


92  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

Had  the  boys  been  as  forward  in  their 
development  as  they  were,  they  would  have 
had  less  trouble,  but  fortunately  the  ball 
game  and  the  marbles  held  more  attraction 
for  them  than  girls  did.  Occasionally  one 
would  answer  the  challenge,  and  come  and 
talk  to  them,  but  their  judgment  had  not 
developed  with  their  desire  for  admiration 
and  attention,  and  they  were  not  at  all  timid 
about  following  the  boys  into  the  play- 
ground, and  insisting  upon  having  their  at- 
tention. 

Out  of  school  hours  the  set  had  their 
small  parties;  not  as  a  company  of  children, 
to  play  "hide  and  seek"  or  "pussy  wants  a 
corner,"  and  go  home  at  twilight.  They 
went  in  the  evening,  each  girl  waiting  at  her 
home  until  called  for  by  her  "regular  com- 
pany." Then  at  ten  or  eleven  they  came 
home  together  in  the  same  way.  Their 
games  and  amusements  were  highly  savored 
with  sentiment  and  effusiveness.  Wherever 
they  happened  to  be,  they  collected  in  little 


DODD'S  SISTER.  93 

groups,  and  talked  and  laughed  in  painful 
imitation  of  eighteen-year-old  girls. 

After  school  hours  they  went  arm  in  arm, 
inventing  errands  to  bring  them  into  con- 
tact with  the  clerks,  who  were  much  more 
attentive  and  susceptible  than  the  school 
boys  of  their  own  age ;  or  they  stood  in  the 
postoffice  and  simpered  their  nonsense  in 
high,  strident  tones,  and  posed  with  affected 
airs;  they  rilled  in  all  the  vacant  time  with 
excessive  giggling,  or  stood  with  eyes  rilled 
with  admiration  and  envy  for  every  fashion- 
ably dressed  woman  who  passed;  or  they 
would  follow  the  school  boys,  insisting  upon 
having  attention  from  them. 

Amongst  themselves  there  were  the  same 
jealousies  that  exist  amongst  older  ones. 
It  was  deplorable  to  see  little  girls  with  bit- 
ter feelings  toward  a  companion  when  she 
succeeded  in  attracting  an  undue  amount  of 
attention;  and  these  occasions  were  more 
frequent  than  with  older  girls,  for  the  boys 
who  were  susceptible  to  these  things  were 
much  fewer  in  number  than  the  girls.  When 


94  THE   EVOLUTION   OP 

every  device  for  prolonging  their  stay  had 
been  tried,  they  reluctantly  strolled  home. 

All  this  performance  was  an  outward  ex- 
pression of  an  inward  condition.  Were  this 
the  worst  of  this  unnatural  life,  the  results 
are  still  to  be  deplored.  But  there  is  too 
often  an  under-current  in  the  life  of  these 
children  that  is  unknown  and  unsuspected 
by  all  except  an  occasional  observing  and 
thoughtful  mother. 

WhenRuth's  mother  first  heard,  at  the  W. 
C.  T.  U.  meeting,  that  there  was  a  bad  con- 
dition of  morals  among  the  children  of  the 
public  schools,  she  was  surprised  that  she 
had  never  seen  nor  heard  anything  of  this. 
Then  came  the  comforting  thought  that  her 
children  knew  nothing  about  it.  The  lady 
who  spoke  had  said  "amongst  some  of  the 
children,"  and  of  course  Ruth  did  not  as- 
sociate with  such.  It  must  be  the  Polish 
children  of  whom  these  things  were  true. 
"It  is  so  unfortunate"  she  remarked  "that 
our  children  are  compelled  to  go  to  school 
in  a  mass." 


DODD'S  SISTER.  95 

It  had  required  some  courage  on  the  part 
of  the  lady  who  made  the  statement  to  in- 
troduce the  subject. 

She  continued  that  she  hoped  that  the 
Union  would  see  that  it  was  their  duty 
to  do  something  about  the  matter. 

"But  we  don't  know  anything  definitely 
about  it,"  the  president  replied.  "There  have 
been  floating  reports  of  this  kind,  but  there 
seem  to  be  no  certain  facts." 

"I  do  know  of  certain  facts  that  make  the 
matter  clear  enough  to  me." 

"In  that  case,  why  do  you  not  go  to  the 
principal  and  tell  him?" 

"Well,  ladies,  now  that  the  question  has 
been  asked,  I  will  tell  you  the  whole  story. 
I  did  go  to  the  principal  not  long  ago.  It 
was  not  a  pleasant  task,  I  assure  you.  I  told 
him  what  I  believed,  and  some  of  the  things 
that  had  led  me  to  think  it.  He  let  me  tell 
the  whole  thing  without  a  word,  but  I  could 
plainly  see  by  the  expression  on  his  face 
his  opinion  of  a  woman  who  could  ever 
have  such  thoughts  about  children,  or  who 


96  THE   EVOLUTION   OP 

could  relate  them  to  a  man.  After  I  had 
said  all  that  I  considered  it  my  duty  to  say, 
he  waited  a  full  minute  so  as  to  properly  im- 
press me,  and  then  said:  'Well,  madam,  as 
you  are  so  convinced  of  the  truth  of  what 
you  say,  I  suppose  that  you  are  prepared  to 
prove  the  truth  of  all  these  assertions/ 

"I  had  gone  to  him  with  my  information 
because  of  an  overpowering  sense  of  duty. 
I  answered  him: 

"'I  am  not  prepared  to  do  anything  of 
the  kind.  If  after  I  have  told  you  these 
things  you  can  not  go  to  work  and  find  out 
the  truth  of  them,  I  shall  feel  at  least  that  I 
have  done  my  duty/ 

"'Do  not  trouble  yourself  on  that  score, 
madam,'  he  answered.  'As  far  as  you  are 
responsible  for  my  school,  you  have  cer- 
tainly done  your  whole  duty/ 

"My  husband  said,  when  I  came  home 
and  told  him  about  it,  that  it  served  me 
right;  that  I  might  have  minded  my  own 
business. 

"I  have  said  nothing  about  it  since,  but  I 


DODO'S  SISTER.  97 

live  just  back  of  the  school  house,  and  I  see 
so  much  that  I  felt  compelled  to  say  some- 
thing." 

"Well,  what  can  we  do?  If  the  teacher 
will  not  listen,  shall  we  go  to  the  board?" 

"Yes,  if  you  are  prepared  to  prove  every- 
thing that  you  are  morally  convinced  of." 

"Well,  shall  we  go  to  the  parents?" 

"Go  to  the  parents !  Well,  I  guess  not,  if 
you  don't  expect  to  be  eternally  ostracized 
from  their  society." 

Then  Ruth's  mother  spoke. 

"Well,  you  would  not  care  for  that.  They 
are  a  class  of  society  that  our  Union  ought 
to  be  interested  in,  and  do  the  best  for, 
whether  they  appreciate  it  or  not." 

There  was  a  smile  on  some  of  the  faces  at 
this  speech,  and  they  all  realized  how  diffi- 
cult it  would  be  to  say  anything  to  parents 
on  the  subject. 

Without  coming  to  any  conclusion,  but 
wishing,  as  they  had  wished  many  times, 
that  there  might  be  some  women  on  the 
school  board  who  might  be  approached  on 


98 

such  subjects,  and  who  would  feel  that  they 
were  matters  of  enough  importance  to  in- 
vestigate, they  separated.  The  fact  was  that 
while  Ruth  belonged  to  the  set  of  which 
these  accusations  were  true,  she  herself  was 
not  one  of  the  culprits.  The  intense  pride, 
that  had  influenced  her  in  joining  the  set, 
likewise  kept  her  aloof  from  its  coarser 
aspects.  She  came  in  contact  with  them,  she 
knew  about  them,  and  her  moral  sense  was 
dwarfed,  perhaps  for  all  life;  but  she  came 
from  a  clean,  Puritan  stock,  and  genera- 
tions of  pure  women  had  given  her  a  herit- 
age that  even  in  these  social  conditions  was 
a  safeguard. 

Ruth  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  all 
the  time  for  promenading  the  streets  that 
she  wanted  without  exciting  her  mother's 
suspicion.  If  the  hour  was  very  late  when 
she  came  from  school,  she  pleaded  head- 
ache and  the  need  of  fresh  air. 

She  was  always  so  lady-like  that  her 
mother  never  questioned  her  behavior  when 
away  from  her.  Besides,  she  had  good 


DODO'S  SISTER.  99 

standing  in  school,  her  marks  were  excel- 
lent, and  to  her  mother  she  appeared  the 
very  ideal  of  a  girl. 

If  the  girl  who  is  morally  in  dangerous 
places  would  only  make  such  tremendous 
breaks  from  the  required  social  standards 
as  the  boy  will,  her  danger  could  be  so  much 
more  easily  discovered  and  dealt  with. 

Quite  to  the  contrary,  however,  she  is  all 
the  time  deporting  herself  in  the  most  ap- 
proved and  lady-like  manner. 

In  the  school  Ruth  was  faithfully  doing 
the  required  work,  for  her  love  of  admira- 
tion would  never  permit  her  to  fall  behind 
her  classmates. 

Oh,  this  love  of  admiration,  how  strong 
it  is  in  womankind!  No  woman  can  be 
womanly  without  it.  When  it  is  narrowed 
entirely  to  personal  appearances,  and  is 
obnoxiously  apparent,  we  call  it  vanity ;  but 
in  its  normal  condition  it  is  what  has  made 
woman  lovable  under  the  most  trying  cir- 
cumstances. She  must  be  loved  whatever 


100  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

else  happens,  and  to  be  loved  is  to  be  ad- 
mired. 

This  element  was  intense  in  Ruth.  If  it 
could  have  been  rightly  directed,  it  would 
have  been  the  means  of  developing  her  into 
a  strong,  useful  woman;  but  turned  in  the 
wrong  direction  it  would  have  just  the  op- 
posite effect. 

To  appear  stupid  would  not  have  been  so 
stinging  to  Ruth,  it  is  true,  as  to  appear 
common,  or  what  she  called  vulgar;  but 
she  would  have  made  a  much  greater  effort 
than  school  requirements  demanded  to  keep 
a  respectable  standing  in  school. 

She  was  in  no  sense  dull.  She  had  an 
ordinary  supply  of  good  brain  power,  and 
an  unusual  amount  of  pride  and  ambition. 
It  was  her  misfortune  that  she  had  not  had 
a  strong,  firm  hand  to  guide  her,  and  she 
was  swept  along  in  the  current  of  public 
school  life  that  appealed  most  strongly  to 
her  inclinations. 

^    Her    mother's    hands    and    heart    were 
crowded  with  duties.    Not  that  she  felt  that 


DODD'S  SISTER.  101 

her  children  were  neglected.  To  her  a 
mother's  duty  was  to  care  for  the  bodily 
wants  of  her  children,  to  teach  them  gen- 
eral and  formal  Christian  duties,  and  to 
send  them  to  school. 

She  did  these  things  as  well  as  she  could. 
The  little  steps  were  carefully  guided.  But 
it  is  the  little  steps  that  need  the  least  care. 
As  the  children  grew  older  she  had  no  power 
to  penetrate  their  secret  thoughts,  much  less 
to  guide  them.  She  had  no  power  to  know 
whether  the  inner  spiritual  life  of  the  child 
was  developing  roundly  and  wholesomely. 
That  word  spiritual  presents  to  so  many 
minds  just  what  it  did  to  Ruth's  mother.  It 
was  that  element  in  the  human  soul  that 
lit  up  sister  Brown's  face  when  she  prayed, 
and  it  would  come  to  her  children  when 
they  were  old  enough  if  they  attended 
prayer  meeting  and  other  means  of  its  culti- 
vation. In  the  meantime,  the  real  spiritual 
life  of  her  daughter  was  a  sealed  book  to 
her. 

There  was  not  a  genuine  bond  of  sym- 


102  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

pathy  between  them.  She  had  never  really 
invited"  the  confidence  of  her  child.  It  can 
never  be  forced  from  any  child,  and  only 
comes  spontaneously  when  she  feels  that  in- 
fluence impelling  her  to  reveal  her  feelings 
that  a  really  congenial  soul  exerts. 

Others  may  wash  and  cook  and  sew  for 
her,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  little  importance; 
but  when  another  than  the  mother  must  be 
the  girl's  best  friend,  it  is  a  grave  misfor- 
tune. 

"Best  friend"  does  not  mean  to  the  girl 
just  what  even  Ruth  might  have  thought. 
The  chattering  girl  companion  did  not  know 
her  deepest  life.  There  are  deeps  and  deeps 
in  the  life  of  a  young  girl. 

Only  an  older  person  could  ever  have 
drawn  confidences  from  her  that  were  deep- 
est and  most  real,  and  that  person  had  never 
yet  come  into  her  life. 

She  had  long,  long  thoughts  that  were 
left  all  unsettled  because  she  had  never 
come  in  contact  with  any  one  that  called 
from  her  her  real,  inner  life. 


DODIVS  SISTER.  103 

Strange,  that  the  mother  had  so  far  for- 
gotten the  days  of  her  own  girlhood,  when 
the  wonderful  problems  of  life  were  just  be- 
ginning to  present  themselves  to  her.  She 
had  never  considered  this  contact  with  her 
child's  life  necessary.  She  had  good,  time- 
honored  ideas  about  her  duty.  She  was 
first  to  be  a  good  housekeeper.  Her  own 
mother  had  impressed  this  idea  upon  her 
mind  by  many  a  precept  and  illustration. 

She  had  told  her  the  story  of  the  man 
who  started  out  to  find  a  wife.  He  went 
from  house  to  house,  asking  for  crumbs  of 
dried  bread  dough  from  the  last  week's 
bread  pan.  When  finally  he  was  told  by 
one  house-wife  that  such  things  never  ex- 
isted in  that  house,  he  said:  "It  is  the 
daughter  of  this  house  that  I  want  for  my 
wife." 

Also  in  a  book  that  her  father  had  given 
her  as  a  Christmas  present  she  found  an 
essay  or  two  on  "How  to  Choose  a  Wife." 
The  point  that  was  made  most  vivid  to  her 
girlish  mind  was  the  advice  to  young  men 


104  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

that  if,  in  walking  behind  a  girl,  they  should 
see  a  raveling  on  her  dress,  to  be  sure  of 
one  thing,  that  she  was  not  fitted  to  be  a 
wife. 

Now,  no  such  things  as  ravelings  or  dried 
bread  crumbs  ever  remained  unmolested  in 
her  house,  and  she  considered  herself  pos- 
sessed of  one  of  the  great  qualifications  of 
motherhood.  Housekeeping  and  mother- 
hood are  no  more  related  than  gardening 
and  fatherhood. 

The  most  ideal  housekeeper  may  be  a 
complete  failure  as  a  mother,  and  the  moth- 
er who  can  keep  her  daughter's  life  as  close 
to  her  as  the  apple  is  to  the  tree,  may  be 
very  far  from  perfection  in  the  matter  of 
drawers  and  closets. 

Ruth  had  gone  to  her  father  occasional- 
ly when  her  mother  had  failed  her. 

Her  preacher  father  would  have  been 
shocked  if  he  could  have  been  aware  of 
the  tumult  of  thoughts  that  were  stirred 
up  in  her  mind  when  a  visitor  replied  to  a 
remark  of  his: 


DODD'S  SISTER.  105 

"That  is  a  memory  of  some  former  exist- 
ence. You  have  lived  before,  you  know." 

Her  father  merely  laughed,  and  Ruth 
looked  at  him  in  doubt,  wondering  if  he 
really  believed  that.  She  was  unable  to 
decide,  and  after  much  wondering  said: 

"Papa,  were  we  just  made  as  we  are,  or 
have  we  really  lived  before,  as  Mr.  Jennings 
said?" 

"Those  are  no  thoughts  for  a  child  like 
you,  Ruth.  You  are  not  old  enough  to  talk 
about  such  things.  Leave  them  alone  until 
you  are  older." 

Why  did  not  the  good  man  add,  "and  we 
will  explain  them  to  you  then?" 

In  this  childish  brain,  forever  busy,  there 
was  a  turmoil  of  thoughts  that  were  sug- 
gested by  the  fragments  of  the  conversa- 
tion of  older  people. 

She  was  shut  out  from  all  real  com- 
munion by  parents  who  were  so  convinced 
that  it  was  their  duty  to  appear  wise  to  their 
children  that  they  repelled  any  confidence 
that  was  dangerous  to  this  ideal. 


106  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

The  questioning  child  has  always  been 
called  the  thinking  child,  but  the  child  that 
rarely  questions  is  quite  as  often  the 
thoughtful  one. 

Ruth  was  with  her  mother  very  little  of 
the  time.  The  school  hours  were  length- 
ened far  into  the  afternoon,  and  only  rarely 
did  the  mother  expect  any  help  from  her. 

Almost  apologetically  she  would  say: 

"I  did  need  you  so  much,  Ruth,  to  help 
take  care  of  the  baby.  He  is  so  fretful  now 
that  he  is  teething  that  I  haven't  been  able 
to  do  anything  since  dinner  but  take  care 
of  him.  I  want  you  to  roll  him  in  his  car- 
riage and  give  him  a  little  fresh  air." 

"Why  can't  Mary  do  that?  I  don't  want 
to  go  rolling  a  baby  like  a  nurse  girl." 

"Mary  has  all  that  she  can  do  in  the 
kitchen.  If  you  had  come  home  in  time 
you  might  have  ironed  some  of  the  plain 
clothes  and  given  her  time  to  take  him 
out." 

"Well,  I'm  just  not  going  to  spread  my 
hands  doing  hired  girl's  work.  I'll  take  the 


DODD'S  SISTER.  107 

baby  out  to  the  hammock.  There  is  just  as 
much  fresh  air  there  as  any  place." 

So  unwillingly  she  took  the  little  fellow 
out  of  his  mother's  aching  arms  and  car- 
ried him  out  to  the  hammock.  He  knew 
the  unsympathetic  touch,  and  kicked  and 
screamed  in  resistance. 

"He  won't  be  good  with  me.  I  don't 
know  how  to  take  care  of  babies." 

"You  might  learn  with  a  little  more  pa- 
tience, dear." 

"I  never  can  learn.  I  don't  want  to  learn. 
I  wish  I  lived  with  Auntie  May  where  they 
don't  have  a  lot  of  hateful  babies  to  take 
care  of." 

"O,  Ruth,  don't  talk  so.  Just  think  what 
a  gift  from  God  our  dear  baby  is." 

But  Ruth  was  still  unconvinced'.  She 
carried  the  baby  with  an  expression  that 
showed  an  utter  lack  of  an  appreciation  of 
the  appropriateness  of  the  gift.  Once  in 
the  hammock,  the  little  one  was  jerked  back 
and  forth,  while  Ruth  stood  wondering  why 
so  many  of  the  girls  could  always  have  such 


108  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 

nice  clothes,  while  she  was  compelled  to 
battle  over  each  new  garment,  and  do  such 
disagreeable  things  as  to  rock  babies. 

The  baby  responded  to  Ruth's  mood,  and 
sent  forth  such  wails  that  it  brought  the 
mother  to  the  scene  of  action. 

"Why  don't  you  sit  in  the  hammock  with 
him  and  be  more  kind?"  the  mother  sug- 
gested patiently. 

"I  don't  see  what  more  I  can  do.  I  can 
swing  him  better  this  way." 

But  the  little  arms  went  up  and  the  under 
lip  trembled  at  the  mother's  approach  in 
such  a  pathetic  way  that  Ruth  gained  her 
point,  and  the  mother's  tired  arms  once 
more  held  the  heavy  little  body. 

It  was  these  little  victories  that  were 
gradually  deciding  the  relation  between 
mother  and  child.  Ruth  each  day  had  less 
respect  for  her  mother's  opinion  on  any  sub- 
ject, and  less  confidence  in  her  ability  to  en- 
force obedience  in  what  she  resolutely 
determined  not  to  do. 

Open  rebellion  would   have    called    for 


DODD'S   SISTER.  109 

severe  measures ;  but  a  weak  loving  mother 
was  gradually  being  conquered  by  a  self- 
willed,  selfish  child. 

In  the  household,  where  her  hands  and 
feet  could  have  saved  her  mother  so  many 
weary  moments,  very  little  was  ever  de- 
manded of  her.  Occasionally  the  father  in- 
terfered, and  insisted  on  some  trifling  house- 
hold duty  being  performed;  but  even  he 
relented  from  his  severity  when  he  saw  the 
violet  eyes  fill  with  tears,  and  the  pretty  lip 
tremble. 

She  felt  herself  abused,  and  her  sweet, 
feminine  beauty  appealed  even  to  him,  until 
he  gave  his  tacit  consent  to  a  systematic 
course  of  training  in  pure  selfishness. 

The  little  hands  were  kept  white,  the 
tapering  nails  were  never  broken,  and  the 
consideration  of  herself  before  all  others 
was  regarded  as  a  natural  right.  Even  thus 
favored,  she  considered  herself  abused  that 
she  was  compelled  to  do  with  much  less  of 
the  world's  goods  than  many  of  her  young 
friends. 


110  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

In  after  years,  when  the  need  of  her 
parents'  counsels  was  much  more  impor- 
tant, when  she  was  too  old  for  punishment 
or  discipline,  the  parents  wondered  why, 
with  all  their  kindness,  their  child  should 
have  such  disregard  for  their  wishes. 

The  thought  that  Ruth  could  not  always 
stay  under  their  protecting  roof,  that  she 
must  some  day  come  in  contact  with  a 
world  that  would  not  use  her  as  if  she  were 
a  petted  plaything,  did  not  often  occur  to 
these  inconsiderate  parents.  The  mother 
had  a  dim  notion  that  Ruth's  beauty  would 
raise  her  above  the  common  lot  of  women. 
She  failed  to  realize  that  her  daughter's  life 
must,  in  its  phases  of  responsibility,  be  in 
some  sense  a  repetition  of  her  own;  that 
her  duties  would  be  a  woman's  duties,  call- 
ing for  patience,  self-sacrificing,  and  suf- 
fering. 

It  is  no  doubt  a  beautiful  and  poetic  idea 
that  these  sweet  young  girls  are  fair  flowers, 
with  no  more  serious  mission  than  to  shed 
their  fragrance  and  beauty  for  the  delight 


m 

DODD'S   SISTER.  Ill 

of  mankind.  Beautiful  it  would  be,  if  it 
were  only  true.  Beauty,  however  valued 
and  sought,  never  makes  life's  duties  any 
lighter  for  a  woman,  and  there  comes  a 
time  when  she  awakens  to  the  fact  that  she 
was  not  created  merely  to  beautify  the 
earth,  but  to  confront  its  hard  and  serious 
duties  like  the  rest  of  human  kind. 

It  is  always  a  shock,  and  often  a  serious 
one,  and  she  revolts  against  her  destiny 
only  to  make  herself  a  burden  to  society. 
Of  all  the  teachers  into  whose  hands  Ruth 
came,  only  one  ever  realized  that  these  girls 
needed  any  special  thought  or  care.  They 
never  ran  away  from  school,  or  told  lies,  or 
refused  to  obey.  They  never  in  any  way 
flagrantly  disregarded  the  rules  of  the 
school.  They  were  never  rude  or  coarse.  In 
fine,  they  were  the  show  pupils.  Was  there 
an  entertainment  either  in  the  school  or  in 
the  Sunday  school,  these  were  the  ones  who 
were  always  put  forward  to  speak,  to  sing, 
to  pose.  They  were  usually  the  favorites,  or 
as  the  other  girls  called  them,  the  "pets," 


112  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

and  they  accepted  the  relation  as  their  na- 
tural right.  The  teachers  stood  somewhat 
in  awe  of  their  criticism. 

One  woman  there  was  who  had  been  be- 
tween the  mill-stones  of  life  until  she  had 
learned  their  cruel  grind  to  its  full  extent, 
who  recognized  the  falseness  of  their  ideals 
and  motives.  This  woman,  who  had  been 
left  to  perform  the  duties  of  motherhood  to 
her  little  ones,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
earn  their  daily  bread,  one  day  led  her  little 
two-year-old  into  the  school  room.  Many 
of  the  girls  crowded  around  her,  and  tried 
all  their  pretty  arts  of  coaxing  to  attract 
the  little  child. 

But  none  of  the  "swell"  set  were  among 
them.  A  patronizing  "How  cute!"  as  they 
passed  along  was  all  the  attention  they 
deigned  to  bestow. 

"Why  does  a  little  child  not  have  the 
same  natural  attraction  for  these  girls  as  for 
the  others?"  was  her  query. 

She  began  to  study  into  their  lives. 
Secretiveness  was  so  much  a  characteristic 


DODD'S   SISTE'R.  113 

with  them  that  this  was  not  an  easy  matter ; 
but  with  patience  she  found  that  the  con- 
versation common  among  them  was  of  a  na- 
ture calculated  to  shock  propriety. 

Not  grossly  obscene,  it  was  saturated 
with  suggestiveness. 

The  woman  who  could  best  stifle  the  ma- 
ternal instincts  was  looked  upon  with  ad- 
miration as  an  ideal  of  "smartness." 

They  had  their  young  lovers,  and  billet- 
doux  of  the  most  extravagant  nature  passed 
between  them. 

With  infinite  tact  this  teacher  began  to 
ingratiate  herself  into  the  confidence  of 
these  girls.  Her  babies  and  the  memory  of 
a  husband  she  loved  were  the  sweetest 
things  in  life  to  her,  and  it  appalled  her  to 
find  that  these  girls,  not  yet  in  their  maiden- 
hood, should  hold  all  that  these  signified 
in  contempt. 

Ruth  impressed  her  as  being  the  most 
susceptible,  and  she  tried  with  all  her  art  to 
draw  her  out  with  reference  to  her  aims 
and  ideals. 

8 


114  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

Unfortunately,  just  as  it  appeared  that 
she  was  having  some  influence,  and  elicit- 
ing some  germs  of  confidence,  a  new  ap- 
pointment moved  the  Weaver  family  to  an- 
other locality.  In  a  few  weeks  all  impres- 
sion made  by  this  woman  upon  Ruth  had 
been  effaced.  If  the  nomadic  life  of  her 
father  had  not  compelled  her  to  leave  this 
woman  at  this  critical  period,  she  might 
have  proved  the  open  sesame  to  the  truer 
and  better  nature  of  the  girl. 

In  another  town  and  another  school  Ruth 
found  the  same  set  of  companions.  Wher- 
ever she  went  she  never  failed  to  find  them. 
Sometimes  they  were  more  numerous, 
sometimes  they  were  more  saturated  with 
these  precocious  and  disastrous  sentiments, 
but  she  never  failed  to  find  them. 

The  teacher  who  had  discovered  what  was 
the  life  and  the  ideal  of  these  girls  brought 
the  matter  up  a  little  later  at  a  teachers' 
meeting  in  as  direct  a  way  as  she  dared. 
The  principal  looked  at  her  a  moment  as  if 
she  had  completely  lost  her  senses,  and  then 


DODD'S  SISTER.  115 

changed  the  subject  to  the  consideration  of 
the  best  method  to  regulate  the  match 
games  of  base  ball. 

She  did  not  allude  to  it  again,  yet  she 
felt  that  it  was  a  theme  that  needed  serious 
thought. 

When  Ruth  again  entered  school  she  ha<i 
left  her  girlhood  behind  her,  and  was  stand- 
ing on  the  threshold  of  her  maidenhood. 


116  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 


MAIDENHOOD. 

"Standing  with  reluctant  feet, 
Where  the  brook  and  river  meet." 

Ruth  did  not  stand  with  reluctant  feet; 
she  was  eager  to  go  on.  The  years  before 
her  contained  no  mystery.  The  period  that 
is  the  heritage  of  the  natural  girl,  the  beau- 
tiful wonder-age  that  poetry  has  called 
"sweet  sixteen,"  would  never  become  a  part 
of  her  life.  She  would  have  to  go  back  to 
her  childhood  to  find  the  shy  timidity  that 
usually  comes  to  girls  when  they  find  them- 
selves for  the  first  time  the  objects  of  ad- 
miration and  attention.  The  sudden  reali- 
zation of  this  that  sends  the  hand  involun- 
tarily to  the  hair  to  tuck  a  curl  into  place, 
or  give  the  long  braids  a  swing,  or  press  a 
rebellious  hair  pin  into  the  ambitious  coif- 
fure; the  apprehensive  glance  at  the  toe  of 
the  shoe,  the  sudden  straightening  of  the 
waist  and  pressing  down  of  the  belt,  and 


DODD'S  SISTER.  117 

the  faint  blush  of  pink  that  betrays  the  fact 
that  the  girl  realizes  her  young  womanhood, 
these  were  the  things  that  would  not  come 
to  Ruth. 

She  stopped  before  each  mirror  that  hap- 
pened in  her  way,  but  not  with  that  quick, 
stolen  glance  that  betrays  such  conscious- 
ness. 

It  was  done  deliberately,  and  she  turned 
away  with  the  satisfied  toss  of  the  head  that 
shows  experience  and  gratified  pride.  She 
spent  a  long  time  before  her  own  little  glass 
before  she  considered  her  toilet  complete 
the  first  morning  that  she  started  for  school. 

"Why  do  you  take  so  long  to  dress  your- 
self, Ruth?  You  would  look  just  as  well  if 
you  spent  less  time,  and  I  did  hope  that  you 
could  help  me  a  little  this  morning." 

"You  know  the  first  morning  counts  for 
so  much,  mamma.  I'm  sure  I  can't  go  to 
school  and  work  too.  Auntie  May  always 
told  me  to  make  a  good  first  impression,  for 
it  was  worth  everything." 

It  was  a  very  fair,  slender  girl  that  pre- 


118  THE    EVOLUTION    OF 

sented  herself  at  the  door  of  the  high  school 
that  September  morning.  She  had  not  the 
straight  shapeless  form  so  commonly  seen 
in  girls,  for  corsets  and  infinite  care  with 
puff  and  ruffle  and  pleat  had  aided  much 
in  giving  her  a  womanly  appearance. 

She  looked  the  principal  over  with  a  cool 
criticism  that  made  him  feel  a  trifle  uncom- 
fortable. 

What  was  there  in  that  first  moment  of 
meeting  that  made  the  principal  mentally 
decide  that  the  new  preacher's  daughter 
would  not  be  a  desirable  accession  to  his 
school,  and  caused  Ruth  to  draw  herself  to 
her  highest  when  she  met  his  glance,  and 
write  to  her  girl  friends  that  she  knew  he 
would  be  "just  horrid?" 

There  was  a  sort  of  instinctive  antagon- 
ism between  the  two,  and  each  recognized 
in  the  other  a  power  that  was  to  be  dreaded. 

When  Ruth  told  at  home  that  she  did  not 
like  her  new  teacher,  she  found  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  tell  why. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  119 

"O,  he  laughs  horrid;  and  he  keeps  one 
foot  going  whenever  he  sits  down." 

She  had  not  analyzed  the  case  sufficiently 
to  realize  that  the  absence  of  any  admir- 
ing glance  was  what  she  missed. 

Never  before,  from  the  time  that  she  had 
cried  for  her  brown  slippers  to  the  present, 
had  she  come  under  a  teacher  whom  she 
could  not  influence  with  a  sweet  smile  and 
a  bright  coquettish  air. 

But  this  teacher  was  a  masculine  "old 
maid"  in  his  very  nature.  He  tolerated  the 
girls  in  his  school  because  the  law  allowed 
them  there,  but  he  was  always  surprised 
if  they  made  a  creditable  recitation. 

And  they  never  did  their  best.  He  was 
constantly  insinuating  their  inferiority;  at 
the  end  of  every  question  asked  of  a  girl 
there  was  an  inflection  indicating  that  it 
would  probably  not  be  answered.  The  girls 
in  his  school  always  caused  him  more  trou- 
ble than  the  boys.  Even  Ruth,  in  whom 
the  spirit  of  mischief  did  not  predominate, 
took  delight  in  annoying  him. 


120  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

When  at  their  first  meeting  she  realized 
how  little  impression  her  girlish  charms  had 
on  him,  she  immediately  concluded  that  at 
some  former  time  he  had  been  disappointed 
in  a  love  affair.  She  could  imagine  no 
other  cause  for  his  callousness. 

He  had  been  in  the  school  for  many 
years,  and  had  taught  the  parents  of  the 
boys  and  girls  now  under  his  charge,  but 
he  had  never  discovered  that  the  way  to 
govern  the  girl  is  through  her  pride  and 
her  affection.  In  fact  he  gave  her  little 
thought.  He  would  have  abolished  her  if  he 
could,  and  being  unable  to  do  that  he  en- 
dured with  a  very  poor  grace  her  presence 
in  his  school,  and  she  always  with  his  co- 
operation degenerated  from  any  former 
standing  as  a  scholar. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  town  there  had 
been  all  preparation  for  a  "boom,"  and  it 
was  a  matter  of  some  speculative  importance 
when  the  school  board  met  to  decide  upon 
the  location  of  the  new  school  bunding  that 
was  to  supersede  the  earlier  temporary  one. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  121 

"We  want  it  where  it  will  show  up  well," 
one  of  the  "city  fathers"  remarked. 

"Yes,  certainly,  if  we  put  all  this  money 
into  a  school  we  must  have  something  that 
will  show  up  big  in  the  advertising  pamph- 
lets. There  is  nothing  in  the  world  that 
will  advertise  a  town  and  bring  in  people 
like  a  fine  school  building.  We  want  it 
where  it  will  show  up  well/' 

"I  tell  you,  the  bluffs  is  just  the  place." 

"Too  far  out,  isn't  it?" 

"Not  a  bit.  Just  what  the  little  fellows 
need.  Won't  hurt  them  a  bit  more  than  to 
play  ball  all  that  time." 

"Take  a  little  of  the  mischief  out  of  them, 
hey?"  with  an  appeal  to  the  principal  who 
had  been  called  in  for  consultation. 

"O,  that's  all  right,"  and  that  worthy  gave 
a  knowing  laugh  calculated  to  impress  the 
board  with  the  fact  that  he  could  attend  to 
such  small  matters  without  any  aid. 

The  discussion  went  on.  Plans  were 
laid  before  them  by  the  special  committee, 
and  the  size  and  cost  of  arch,  column  and 


122  THE   EVOLUTION   OP 

cupola  received  due  consideration.  What 
they  could  afford  in  fancy  stone  for  trim- 
ming, and  finally  the  heating  apparatus  were 
discussed. 

There  was  some  suggestion  that  stoves 
would  be  more  economical,  but  this  sug- 
gestion was  laughed  to  scorn.  How  could 
stoves  be  advertised  in  the  pamphlet?  As 
an  afterthought,  and  in  the  face  of  the  op- 
position of  the  stove  advocate,  who  thought 
it  would  be  a  waste  of  heat,  a  system  of 
ventilation  was  decided  upon. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  the  subject  of 
location  was  finally  settled.  The  man  who 
owned  property  on  the  heights  and  the  man 
who  favored  an  extension  of  the  town  in 
that  direction  were  very  firmly  convinced 
that  the  bluffs  afforded  the  most  advan- 
tageous situation  in  all  respects,  and  all 
agreed  that  for  "showing  up"  purposes  it 
could  have  no  equal. 

There  was  one  faint,  lone  objection. 

"The  children  can't  climb  that  hill  in 
winter.'' 


DODD'S  SISTER.  123 

"O,  that's  nothing.  We  can  put  in  some 
steps  in  the  worst  places  with  very  little 
expense." 

To  be  sure.  That  was  just  the  thing. 
Steps  would  fix  things  all  right  And  the 
property  owner  and  the  extension  man 
would  be  glad,  and  how  that  building  would 
"show  up"  from  Main  Street,  and  Dinwiddie 
Street,  and  the  Park,  and  the  depot! 

Yes,  the  bluffs  was  the  place. 

"School  house  location  is  fixed,"  said  one 
member  of  the  board  to  his  wife,  as  he  re- 
turned home. 

"Where  is  the  location?" 

"Up  on  the  bluffs." 

"On  the  bluffs?    Are  you  men  crazy?" 

"Crazy?  No  madam.  We  are  not  crazy. 
Magnificent  show  from  Main  Street  and  the 
Depot.  Just  the  thing  for  our  advertising 
pamphlet." 

"Why,  papa,  what  are  you  thinking  of? 
You  know  Mabel  cannot  climb  that  hill, 
and  she  will  be  in  the  high  school  next 
year." 


124  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

"Well,  I  couldn't  bring  personal  consid- 
erations into  the  discussion  of  an  important 
subject  like  that." 

Dear  man,  of  course  he  couldn't  for  he 
never  thought  of  it.  He  had  very  carefully 
considered  expenses,  extensions,  town 
"boom,"  advertising  pamphlets,  and  (inci- 
dentally and  collectively)  even  "the  little 
fellows;"  but  his  own  delicate  daughter,  and 
what  it  might  mean  to  her  had  never  oc- 
curred to  him  nor  to  any  other  man  on  that 
board. 

To  the  mother  it  came  as  the  first  and 
controlling  consideration,  but  what  of  that? 

The  school  house  went  up  on  the  bluffs; 
and  it  presented  a  beautiful  appearance 
from  Main  Street,  and  Dinwiddie  Street, 
and  the  Park,  and  the  depot,  and  in  the 
pamphlet. 

There  were  twice  as  many  girls  as  boys 
in  the  high  school,  yet  their  peculiar  needs 
had  never  been  the  object  of  consideration 
for  a  moment.  In  fact  it  had  never  oc- 
curred to  those  men  that  girls  of  that  age 


DODD'S  SISTER.  125 

have  peculiar  needs.  Had  they  been  pil- 
lars, or  fancy  trimming  stone,  or  even  a 
stair  railing,  they  would  have  come  in  for 
a  share  of  consideration. 

But  what  did  it  mean  to  those  girls,  who 
for  the  first  four  years  of  their  womanhood, 
were  compelled  to  climb  that  hill  and  the 
two  flights  of  stairs  that  had  to  be  mounted 
before  the  high  school  room  was  reached? 

It  meant  increased  back-ache  and 
head-ache,  weak  eyes,  over-taxed  nerves, 
palpitating  heart,  disordered  stomach,  and 
every  other  evil  that  follows  in  the  train  of 
that  insidious  disease  that  has  settled  down 
on  the  American  women. 

The  hill  and  the  long  stairs  were  not  alone 
responsible  for  it;  it  exists  in  every  public 
school  in  America;  but  these  things  impose 
conditions  on  the  girls  that  augment  their 
troubles,  and  make  them  wrecks  of  woman- 
hood when  they  pose  as  "sweet  girl  gradu- 
ates." 

The  daughters  of  the  land  have  a  right  to 
expect  on  the  part  of  the  individuals  who 


126  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

have  charge  of  their  education  some  knowl- 
edge of  their  needs;  but  it  is  a  deplorable 
fact  that  the  ordinary  member  of  the  school 
board  cares  little,  and  knows  less,  about  the 
subject. 

He  pays  the  doctor  bills  of  his  wife  and 
daughter  with  the  readiness  of  the  indul- 
gent American  husband  and  father.  He  ex- 
pects to  do  it.  That  is  one  of  the  unfortunate 
features  of  the  subject.  Our  women  and 
girls  are  sick  so  much  that  the  men  expect 
it  as  a  part  of  the  price  they  pay  for  the 
privilege  of  having  a  wife. 

That  there  is  a  cause  for  it  for  which  they 
are  partly  responsible  would  be  an  amazing 
revelation  to  them.  If  the  men  will  insist 
upon  the  exclusive  control  of  the  school 
boards,  it  would  be  no  more  than  fair  that 
they  have  some  proper  knowledge  of  the 
need  of  the  majority  of  the  pupils  of  our 
high  schools. 

The  fact  that  the  proportion  of  our  wo- 
men who  are  sick  is  nine  in  every  ten  would 
be  a  surprise  to  them;  but  it  is  a  fact,  and 


DODD'S  SISTER.  127 

it  is  a  matter  of  grave  importance  to  un- 
derstand the  cause. 

In  Europe  the  statement  has  been  made 
that  the  climate  of  our  country  is  unhealthy 
because  our  women  are  in  such  a  diseased 
condition.  Why,  the  Indian  women  lived 
here  for  centuries,  went  through  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  maternity,  and  there  was  no 
army  of  doctors  or  swarm  of  patent  medi- 
cine men  deriving  their  sustenance  from 
them.  Our  men  dismiss  the  subject  with 
"O,  it  is  the  way  you  live!"  No  doubt  it  is; 
but  how  do  we  live?  What  is  it  in  our  lives 
that  makes  them  radically  different  from  the 
lives  of  our  grandmothers?  Why  is  it  that 
a  foreign  woman,  not  from  the  class  who 
work  in  the  field,  but  from  the  good  mid- 
dle class,  will  bring  up  a  family  of  girls  in 
this  country,  living  in  the  home  just  about 
such  a  life  as  she  did  in  Europe,  maintain- 
ing her  own  health  unimpaired  through 
years  of  American  conditions,  and  yet  find 
these  daughters  the  same  physical  wrecks 
when  they  come  to  years  of  womanhood, 


128  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

as  the  American  woman  is?  One  vital  point 
of  difference  is  the  public  school.  The  pub- 
lic schools  of  America  are  largely  responsi- 
ble for  the  ruined  constitutions  of  American 
women. 

What!  Shall  woman,  just  as  she  has 
demonstrated  the  long-disputed  fact  that 
she  is  capable  of  the  same  education  as  a 
man,  confess  that  in  order  to  do  it  she  must 
wreck  her  health  and  happiness? 

No,  she  need  not  confess  that;  but  she 
must  confess  that  the  system  of  education 
onto  which  she  has  been  grafted  is  un- 
suited  to  her  needs. 

That  there  must  be  a  great  deal  of  knowl- 
edge and  many  new  ideas  acquired  by  our 
school  boards;  that  there  must  be  many 
new  elements  introduced  into  our  school 
system;  that  the  needs  of  the  girls,  as  well 
as  the  needs  of  the  boys,  must  have  study; 
and  that  women  teachers  must  assert  them- 
selves to  get  thought  and  attention  from  the 
men,  must  be  recognized  before  she  can 
properly  acquire  her  education. 


DODD'S   SISTER.  129 

This  school  in  which  Ruth  started  in  her 
critical  age  was  one  of  the  worst  of  its  kind, 
but  unfortunately  it  is  multiplied  many 
times  in  every  state.  What  she  really  need- 
ed was  a  system  of  education  that  should  be 
physical  as  well  as  mental.  It  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  her  proper  development. 
She  needed  it  more  than  any  boy  in  school. 
Why  did  she  not  have  it?  Was  not  the 
play  ground  as  free  to  her  as  to  the  boy? 
Certainly  it  was ;  but  custom  with  its  crush- 
ing hand  has  ruled  out  of  the  life  of  every 
girl,  who  has  passed  beyond  the  child 
period,  any  part  in  any  game  that  will  in 
the  least  call  for  physical  exertion.  It 
would  seem  as  if  every  effort  were  being 
made  on  the  part  of  those  in  charge  of  our 
girls  to  make  the  conditions  of  her  educa- 
tion as  unfavorable  as  possible. 

There  were  days  when  the  nervous  strain 
should  have  been  lightened;  when  warmth 
and  quiet  were  the  first  essentials  to  her 
well-being;  but  what  did  her  teacher  know 
of  these  things? 


130  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

Ruth  had  started  into  school  with  all  her 
old  ambition  to  be  first.  To  her  great  sur- 
prise she  found  herself  responsible  for  learn- 
ing the  lessons  that  were  assigned  her.  She 
had  been  taught  for  so  many  years,  that 
the  habit  of  learning  was  very  difficult  for 
her.  It  called  for  unusual  exertion  at  the 
age  when  she  had  little  vitality  to  expend, 
but  there  was  little  chance  of  lightening  the 
stress  when  it  bore  too  heavily,  for  there 
was  no  elasticity  in  the  system. 

One  wet  morning  when  Ruth  started  on 
her  long  tramp  up  the  hill,  her  mother  pro- 
tested. 

"You  ought  not  to  go  to  school  to-day, 
Ruth.  It  really  is  not  right.  I  wish  you 
would  lie  down  on  the  couch  and  keep 
warm  and  quiet." 

"Why,  mamma  Weaver!  How  can  I? 
Don't  you  know  I  will  get  an  absent  mark, 
and  that  will  bring  down  my  grade?  I 
should  certainly  fall  into  the  second  di- 
vision, and  then  the  grade  of  our  room 
wouldn't  stand  first  if  any  of  us  stay  out." 


DODD'S  SISTER.  131 

"But  you  are  not  able  to  do  it.  At  any 
rate  I  will  write  a  note  to  the  teacher,  and 
see  if  you  can  not  sit  where  it  is  warm." 

"Why,  the  idea!  I  wouldn't  do  such  a 
thing  for  the  world.  I  can  get  along  just 
as  well  as  the  other  girls." 

And  half  sick  and  irritable  she  started  for 
school.  She  climbed  the  long  slippery  hill, 
and  dragged  herself  wearily  up  the  stairs. 
Her  skirts  were  wet,  and  remained  so 
through  the  morning.  When  school  called, 
she  felt  exhausted  and  nervous;  her  les- 
sons were  failures,  and  she  was  unusually 
trying  to  the  gentleman  in  charge.  The 
girls  were  always  more  difficult  for  him  to 
manage  than  the  boys;  he  could  not  use 
his  hickory  ferule  on  them  for  one  thing; 
and  when  Ruth  had  twisted  and  turned,  and 
whispered  beyond  what  he  was  accustomed 
to  endure,  he  said: 

"Take  the  platform,  Miss  Weaver." 

She  hesitated  a  moment,  then  bit  her  lip 
and  walked  to  the  platform.  The  teacher 
went  on  with  his  work.  He  was  explaining 


132  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

a  long  problem  in  algebra,  and  had  com- 
pletely forgotten  the  girl  on  the  platform, 
when  the  whole  school  was  startled  by  the 
sound  of  a  fall,  and  he  turned  to  see  Ruth 
lying  face  down  on  the  platform.  He  went 
to  her,  and  with  the  help  of  one  of  the  boys 
lifted  her  into  the  cloak  room  and  sent  for 
a  carriage  to  take  her  home.  He  was  ex- 
ceedingly annoyed.  That  was  not  the  first 
time  such  a  thing  had  happened.  He  saw 
no  sense  in  it.  The  girl  had  deserved  pun- 
ishment; she  had  acted  abominably. 

What  that  had  meant  to  every  girl  that 
he  had  sent  to  the  platform  in  his  long 
career,  the  suffering  he  had  caused,  he 
never  imagined.  His  ferule  would  have 
been  far  preferable.  No  man  who  is  un- 
married, or  has  not  had  a  course  in  medi- 
cine, has  any  right  to  have  charge  of  girls 
of  that  age. 

The  next  day  Ruth  was  at  school  again, 
a  trifle  pale,  but  otherwise  appearing  as 
usual.  It  had  been  a  hard  fight,  but  the 
grade  had  been  saved.  The  fear  of  losing 


DODD'S  SISTER.  133 

rank,  of  falling  below  first  place  in  respect 
to  attendance  had  been  so  systematically 
drilled  into  these  girls,  that  such  inconsid- 
erable things  as  head-ache  and  back-ache 
could  not  keep  them  at  home. 

The  Epworth  League  were  to  have  a 
"Gipsy  Social"  that  night,  and  Ruth  was  to 
be  the  queen.  When  evening  came  she 
dressed  herself  in  the  required  costume)  with 
arms  and  neck  bare,  and  feet  just  caught 
in  white  slippers,  and  went  out  to  the  lawn 
where  the  crowd  was  gathered. 

"Why,  my  dear  child!  What  are  you 
thinking  of?  You  will  catch  your  death  of 
cold.  Do  wear  your  shoes  and  something 
over  your  shoulders  if  you  must  go  out  in 
that  wet  grass !"  her  mother  said. 

"How  I  would  look!  A  Gipsy  Queen 
with  a  shawl  on!  I  should  disgrace  the 
whole  affair." 

"Well,  that  would  be  better  than  to  be 
sick." 

"I  shan't  be  sick.  There  is  no  use  in  you 
fussing  so." 


134  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

And  Ruth  continued  her  preparations 
without  paying  the  least  attention  to  her 
mother's  advice.  She  was  now  too  old  to  be 
compelled  to  do  what  was  unpleasant  to  her, 
and  the  time  was  long  past  when  she  could 
have  been  convinced  that  her  mother's 
judgment  was  superior  to  her  own. 

Ruth  played  the  queen  to  perfection,  and 
was  the  most  charming  of  all  the  tinsel- 
bedecked  maidens.  So  much  did  she  enjoy 
the  compliments  and  attention  thai  she  re- 
ceived, that  she  forgot  that  there  was  such  a 
thing  as  weariness. 

It  was  there,  as  it  is  everywhere,  the 
plain  girls  were  dishing  the  ice  cream  or 
doing  some  useful,  inconspicuous  work, 
while  Ruth  and  her  set,  under  the  beautiful 
canopy,  were  the  center  of  attraction. 

It  was  not  until  the  crowd  began  to  go 
home  and  the  work  of  clearing  up  was  at 
hand,  that  Ruth  began  to  realize  how  miser- 
able she  felt. 

"Girls,  I  certainly  can't  stay  any  longer 
to  help  with  that  work.  I'm  almost  dead." 


DODD'S  SISTER.  135 

The  girls  were  not  at  all  surprised  at 
this.  It  was  much  like  Ruth's  usual  way; 
and  after  some  few  remarks  that  were  too 
near  the  truth  to  be  uttered  in  Ruth's  pres- 
ence, they  went  on  with  their  work.  When 
she  was  in  her  own  room,  and  all  necessity 
for  exertion  was  over,  she  realized  that  her 
feet  were  wet,  and  that  the  slight  chill  she 
had  felt  for  the  last  hour  had  given  way  to 
a  burning  fever.  In  the  morning  Ruth 
found  that  she  had  more  than  weariness  to 
contend  with,  and  the  doctor  was  called. 
He  gave  an  opiate  and  remarked  indiffer- 
ently that  those  troubles  were  quite  com- 
mon with  girls.  So  mother  and  daughter 
accepted  it  as  part  of  the  price  of  woman- 
hood. That  many  things  had  led  up  to  it, 
and  that  it  all  might  have  been  prevented, 
did  not  seem  to  be  considered. 

But  for  all  her  life  Ruth  Weaver,  like 
thousands  of  her  sisters,  was  paying  the 
penalty  of  the  utter  absence  of  thought  on 
the  part  of  those  who  had  her  life  in  charge. 

She  was  ignorant;  her  mother  was  faint- 


136  THE    EVOLUTION   OF 

ly  persuaded  that  it  might  have  been  pre- 
vented; the  doctor  was  politic  and  discreet; 
and  the  teacher  was  indifferent. 

The  whole  muscular  system  had  been  al- 
lowed to  degenerate,  because  it  had  no 
proper  exercise.  While  the  boys  were  on 
the  play  ground,  she  was  sitting  on  the 
stair-way  or  in  the  school  room  or  walking 
up  and  down  the  side-walk. 

In  the  winter  the  boys  went  into  the  va- 
cant story  above,  where  a  gymnasium  had 
been  arranged  for  them.  By  special  per- 
mission the  girls  were  occasionally  allowed 
to  visit  it  and  watch  the  boys  show  off  their 
acrobatic  acts,  but  not  one  of  them  even 
expressed  a  desire  to  perform  any  of  those 
feats.  Only  the  wildest  ever  dared  entertain 
the  secret  thought. 

Why  did  not  the  authorities  who  provid- 
ed a  gymnasium  for  the  boys,  have  like  con- 
sideration for  the  girls?  Every  girl  there 
who  was  to  fulfill  the  mission  of  maternity 
would  need  all  the  strength  of  muscle  and 
nerve  she  could  possibly  get.  But  she  did 


DODD'S  SISTER.  137 

not  get  it,  and  what  is  worse,  she  did  not 
want  it.  The  healthful  play  spirit  was 
largely  crushed  out  of  her,  and  her  muscles 
were  so  flaccid  that  action  held  no  delight 
for  her.  When  the  time  came  that  this  mus- 
cular strength  was  absolutely  needed  she 
was  physically  undone,  and  had  passed  into 
the  ever  increasing  ranks  of  sick  American 
mothers. 

The  girl  ought  to  find  some  muscular 
developing  power  in  the  performance  of  the 
household  duties.  Nothing  of  this  nature 
was  ever  expected  of  Ruth.  She  was  not 
different  in  this  respect  from  many  of  the 
other  girls  of  the  school.  Her  time  was 
crowded  so  full  of  many  other  duties  that 
very  little  was  left  for  the  performance  of 
household  tasks  even  had  she  felt  thus  in- 
clined. She  had  become  habituated  to  be- 
ing waited  upon.  The  mother  patiently  per- 
formed the  servant's  part,  and  indulgent  to 
the  caprices  of  the  daughter,  she  en- 
couraged her  in  the  various  engagements 
that  were  more  congenial  to  her  taste. 


138  THE  EVOLUTION   OF 

On  Monday  night  the  literary  society  of 
the  high  school  met,  and  Ruth  was  one  of 
the  most  enthusiastic  members.  Tuesday 
evening  was  appointed  for  the  chorus  class. 
After  the  hour  of  practice  her  "set"  went  off 
in  couples  to  spend  the  rest  of  the  evening 
together.  On  Wednesday  evening  there 
was  choir  practice  and  Sunday  school  teach- 
ers' meeting,  and  she  was  connected  with 
both  choir  and  Sunday  school. 

A  girl  of  sixteen  is  really  just  about  ready 
to  enter  upon  a  comprehensive  study  of 
the  Bible,  and  if  she  is  assigned  her  most  ap- 
propriate place  she  will  be  found  in  a  class 
under  the  direction  of  a  person  of  mature 
judgment.  On  the  contrary  Ruth  and  five 
or  six  of  her  mates  had  charge  of  classes  of 
children  that  were  getting  their  first  im- 
pressions of  Bible  truths  in  the  most  dis- 
torted manner  from  these  immature,  undis- 
ciplined teachers. 

The  ideas  of  heaven  with  its  pearly  gates 
and  throne  of  gold  were  impressed  in  such 
a  graphic  style  that  to  her  last  day  the  little 


DODD'S  SISTER.  139 

girl's  imagination  always  pictured  it  in  the 
same  way,  regardless  of  anything  that  rea- 
son might  wish  to  substitute. 

The  stereotyped  strangeness  and  stillness 
and  monotony  of  it  was  rather  effective  in 
dampening  their  childish  ardor  for  occu- 
pancy, and  all  the  fierceness  of  the  terrors 
of  the  only  alternative  had  to  be  graphical- 
ly pictured  before  it  could  be  made  reason- 
ably alluring.  But  these  young  teachers 
were  usually  equal  to  that  too.  When  they 
felt  moved  to  inquire  into  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  their  little  charges  they  would  ask 
impressively : 

"Mary,  don't  you  want  to  go  to  heaven?" 

When  the  old  picture  rose  before  Mary's 
mind,  and  she  showed  no  active  eagerness 
for  immediate  translation,  the  question  was 
changed  to: 

"Well,  surely  you  don't  want  to  go  to 
hell,  do  you?"  in  most  awful  tones. 

The  result  was  a  very  decided  preference 
on  Mary's  part  for  the  right  here  and  now 
as  about  the  best  thing  going. 


140  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

But  the  young  teacher  was  complacent. 
She  had  done  her  duty. 

On  Thursday  evening,  at  her  father's  ur- 
gent desire,  she  was  usually  at  prayer  meet- 
ing. Friday  night  was  supposed  to  be  free, 
but  in  reality  it  was  the  most  crowded  night 
in  the  week.  It  was  on  this  night  that  the 
"set"  had  their  parties  or  sleigh  rides  or 
moonlight  picnics;  and  on  Friday  night  the 
church  socials  of  numerous  kinds  called 
for  work  and  attendance;  or  the  class  in 
piano  music  had  their  term  recital.  So,  very 
little  time  was  left  for  mother  and  daughter 
to  spend  together,  had  they  been  accus- 
tomed to  find  in  each  other's  society  the 
pleasure  and  profit  that  each  ought  to  have 
received  from  the  other;  but  they  lived  so 
much  in  this  outside  world,  that  the  real 
home  life  did  not  exist  at  all.  Ruth's  home 
was  the  place  where  she  staid  over  night, 
or  came  to  practice  and  to  eat. 

Although  Ruth  was  at  home  very  little  of 
the  time,  she  usually  retired  under  pretense 
of  lessons  either  to  her  room  or  to  some 


DODD'S  SISTER.  141 

quiet  spot.  But  not  all  this  time  was  spent 
in  study.  One  of  her  constant  companions 
was  a  story  book.  Every  stray  quarter  hour 
was  appropriated,  and  when  the  book  be- 
came intensely  interesting,  the  lamp  was 
set  on  a  chair  beside  her  bed,  and  she  read 
until  her  eyes  stung,  and  the  letters  swam 
before  them. 

These  were  not  books  that  she  had  drawn 
from  the  Sunday  school  library.  They  were 
not  spiced  and  seasoned  enough  for  her 
taste.  "An  Old-Fashioned  Girl,"  or  "We 
Girls,"  or  any  other  book  that  portrayed  the 
life  of  the  normal,  well-balanced  girl  were 
tame  affairs  for  which  she  found  neither 
time  nor  inclination.  In  short,  they  were 
too  healthy.  She  wanted  something  with  a 
hectic  flush.  The  books  that  were  so  eager- 
ly devoured  by  lamp  light,  and  found  a  rest- 
ing place  under  her  pillow  told  of  girls  who 
were  girls  in  years  but  women  in  experi- 
ence; who  were  once  poor,  but  either  in 
the  course  of  the  story  or  at  its  close  came 
into  the  possession  of  lavish  fortunes. 


142  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

They  were  always  "radiantly  beautiful." 
Who  was  ever  genius  enough  or  reckless 
enough  to  create  a  heroine  out  of  an  ab- 
solutely plain  woman? 

They  were  always  passionately  loved, 
often  by  a  stoic  of  a  man  who  had  hereto- 
fore been  proof  against  all  of  Cupid's  wiles ; 
or,  still  more  likely  by  a  deep  dyed  villain 
who  had  been  miraculously  reformed  the 
very  first  time  he  had  gazed  upon  her  re- 
fulgent beauty.  And  then  forever  after  he 
devoted  himself  to  her  happiness  and  lav- 
ished his  wealth  upon  her;  for  of  course  he 
had  wealth. 

The  absurdity  of  it  all  never  dawned  upon 
the  girl.  She  eagerly  drank  in  volume  after 
volume.  It  was  rarely  that  a  week  went 
by  in  which  she  did  not  finish  one  of  these 
books.  She  lived  with  the  characters  in  her 
day  dreams  as  she  mounted  the  long  hill  to 
the  school,  and  talked  with  her  school 
friends  about  their  fortunes  as  the  books 
went  round  among  them. 

There  were  several  shelves  of  these  books 


DODD'S  SISTER.  143 

in  the  public  library  with  worn  covers  and 
pages  covered  with  thumb  marks  and  now 
and  then  a  tear  stain.  On  the  afternoons 
that  the  library  was  open  the  girls  met  there 
and  exchanged  books  and  opinions. 

"O,  this  is  perfectly  lovely!"  or  "This  is 
simply  elegant!" 

"O,  take  this  one.    It's  perfectly  grand!" 

All  superlatives  were  scarcely  enough  to 
express  their  appreciation. 

But  loss  of  time  and  eye-sight  was 
the  least  harm  that  resulted  from  this  style 
of  reading. 

From  these  books  she  got  her  ideal  of 
life.  The  every-day  life  about  her  was  tame 
and  common-place,  and  not  at  all  what  it 
ought  to  be  in  the  way  of  high  colors. 

The  humble  parsonage  home;  her  young 
brothers  and  sisters;  the  plain  clothes;  the 
friends  the  family  knew ;  were  not  all  these 
surroundings  and  associates  ill  suited  to  a 
girl  of  her  high  colored  ideals?  Was  she 
not  unjustly  chained  down  to  a  prosy  hum- 
drum colorless  life  with  which  she  could 


144  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

have  no  sympathy?  The  more  she  com- 
pared them  with  the  people  and  things  in 
the  books,  the  more  she  despised  them. 

The  thought  of  the  lovers  with  the  dear, 
dark  eyes  and  lofty  carriage  and  the  magni- 
ficent homes  made  her  at  times  carry  herself 
with  a  cold  and  haughty  bearing  toward  the 
high  school  boy  who  was  so  bashfully  try- 
ing to  pay  his  attentions  to  her. 

It  was  only  when  she  was  out  from  under 
the  spell  of  the  story  that  she  could  coolly 
reason  that  his  father  was  probably  the  rich- 
est man  in  the  county,  and  that  to  snub  the 
devoted  son  was  not  the  part  of  worldly 
wisdom. 

But  all  idea  of  real  manly  and  maidenly 
love,  of  the  appreciation  of  what  is  true  and 
noble  was  regularly  choked  out  of  this  arti- 
ficial life. 

The  dime  novel,  the  synonym  of  perni- 
cious literature  for  the  boy,  has  received  so 
much  attention  that  the  fact  that  girls  have 
a  style  of  literature  that  exactly  corresponds 
to  it  seems  to  have  escaped  notice. 


DODD'S   SISTER.  145 

They  are  both  injurious  because  they 
present  false  pictures  of  life.  They  fire  the 
young  reader  with  the  ambition  to  be  great 
in  just  the  same  way  that  the  hero  or  hero- 
ine is  great.  The  boy's  hero  is  great  in 
feats  of  strength  and  daring.  The  girl's 
heroine  is  great  in  the  fact  of  grace  and 
beauty.  With  the  boy  this  comes  at  an  age 
when  the  performance  of  a  few  foolhardy 
feats,  even  disgraceful  ones,  will  represent 
its  full  expression. 

With  the  girl  it  comes  at  a  time  when  it 
may  lead  her  to  commit  acts  that  will  color 
her  whole  life. 

A  lover  with  a  moral  character  just  a 
little  doubtful  is  so  much  more  romantic 
than  the  common,  every-day,  good  young 
man  whom  the  parents  approve;  and  even 
if,  as  in  the  case  of  Ruth,  the  desire  to 
be  aristocratic  would  prevent  from  anything 
savoring  of  disgrace,  yet  her  ideals  were 
modeled  upon  the  pictures  of  life  that  she 
found  there. 

Her  mother  need  not  be  equipped  "with 
10 


146  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

a  little  hoard  of  maxims  preaching  down  a 
daughter's  heart." 

For  years  she  had  had  it  fully  arranged  in 
her  own  mind  that  she  would  marry  only  a 
rich  man.  There  might  be  other  desirable 
qualifications,  but  wealth  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  the  winning  of  her  affections. 
She  took  it  for  granted  that  the  beauty  and 
noble  bearing  of  the  hero  of  the  books 
were  somehow  or  other  in  the  kindness  of 
unseen  fortune  going  to  be  added  unto 
these. 

She  understood  the  full  nature  and  value 
of  her  own  beauty,  and  knew  all  the  little 
arts  of  the  coquette  before  she  was  out  of 
her  teens. 

She  often  tried  them  on  the  high  school 
boys  with  such  startling  success  that  she 
longed  for  the  time  to  come  when  the  re- 
straints of  the  preacher's  home  would  be 
done  away  with,  and  she  would  be  free  to 
move  in  the  society  that  her  imagination 
painted  and  her  soul  longed  for.  She  could 
find  no  one  among  her  companions  worthy 


DODD'S   SISTER.  147 

of  her  steel,  and  with  more  and  more  eager- 
ness she  looked  forward  to  the  time  of  her 
graduation  and  her  year  with  Auntie  May. 
Many  a  hard  lesson  she  learned  with  the 
sole  thought  in  the  learning  of  it  that  some 
day  she  would  move  in  brilliant  society,  and 
in  brilliant  society  one  must  not  be  ignor- 
ant. 

Her  father  would  sometimes  say: 

"You  will  have  to  earn  your  own  living, 
Ruth.  I  can  keep  you  in  school  until  you 
graduate;  then  you  will  have  to  do  some- 
thing for  yourself." 

Ruth  would  answer  with  dignity  :• 

"I  suppose  I  can." 

But  she  mentally  resolved  that  the  time 
would  be  short. 

While  she  lived  in  this  artificial  world  of 
her  imagination,  she  was  densely  ignorant 
of  the  real  world  around  her.  Her  mother 
had  never  spoken  one  word  to  her  that 
could  not  be  repeated  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  family.  It  was  her  ideal  of  modesty 
never  to  speak  on  any  subject  that  required 


148  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

privacy.  The  relations  between  mother  and 
daughter  in  this  respect  were  so  strained, 
that  Ruth  would  have  gone  to  almost  any 
one  for  information  sooner  than  to  her 
mother. 

The  mother  had  once  been  as  ignorant  as 
Ruth  of  many  of  the  motives  in  human 
nature.  She  was  wiser  now,  yet  she  allowed 
her  daughter  to  remain  as  she  was  to  get 
her  knowledge  as  best  she  might  from  con- 
tact with  humanity. 

Could  she  have  read  with  Ruth  one  of 
those  books  that  captivated  her  fancy,  she 
might  have  shown  her  that  the  hero  who 
had  led  the  reckless  life  was  a  polluted  man, 
whom  ages  of  reformation  would  not  ren- 
der a  fit  mate  for  the  young  and  beautiful 
bride  that  he  always  won.  There  was  a 
world  of  knowledge  that  her  mother  could 
have  opened  up  to  her  in  regard  to  any 
one  of  these  books.  She  called  this  feeling 
of  reluctance  to  talk  freely  with  her  own 
child  modesty.  It  was  not  modesty  at  all. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  149 

It  was  a  distorted  idea  of  God's  plans  in 
regard  to  creation. 

Girls  demand,  and  will  have  in  some  form, 
this  story  of  conquest  by  love.  If  they  can 
have  it  where  it  is  true  to  life  and  free  from 
the  pestilential  atmosphere  of  passion  and 
vice,  it  is  a  wonderful  power  in  moulding 
their  ideals  and  their  lives. 

Their  desire  for  books  is  almost  insatiate, 
and  the  mother  who  searches  through  litera- 
ture for  the  proper  reading  for  her  daughter 
becomes  soon  aware  that  it  is  one  of  the 
fields  of  literature  that  is  not  crowded.  To 
make  a  story  that  is  strong  without  being 
passionate ;  rich  without  being  untrue ;  rep- 
resenting virtue  and  vice  in  their  proper 
relations  without  obtruding  a  moral,  re- 
quires a  gift  that  is  rare.  The  girl  of  a 
fervid  nature  despises  what  appears  to  her 
childish,  and  is  injured  by  a  promiscuous 
reading  of  literature  designed  for  a  dis- 
criminating age. 

Give  her  free,  undirected  access  to  a  pub- 
lic library,  and  like  a  needle  to  the  pole  she 


150  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

will  gravitate  to  that  corner  where  the  worn 
covers  and  soiled  backs  announce  their 
character  before  they  are  ever  opened. 

There  may  be  a  morbid  element  in  this 
tendency,  but  it  is  so  common  to  girls,  and 
to  our  brightest  and  most  attractive  girls, 
that  it  must  be  seriously  admitted  that  there 
is  some  natural  common  cause  for  it. 

It  is  confined,  in  the  properly  developed 
girl,  to  a  short  period.  But  during  this 
time,  when  certain  elements  in  her  nature 
are  most  active,  she  craves  this  kind  of  sen- 
sational literature,  and  usually  finds  it. 

The  time  that  Ruth  appropriated  for  this 
reading  was  not  taken  by  any  means  at  the 
sacrifice  of  her  school  work.  She  still  main- 
tained her  standing  in  the  school,  but  in 
order  to  do  this  as  well,  she  was  obliged  to 
do  hard  work. 

Her  father  often  objected  to  this;  it  al- 
lowed her  so  little  leisure  for  numerous  im- 
portant duties,  among  them  those  pertain- 
ing to  a  missionary  band  that  was  support- 
ing a  child  in  China. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  151 

That  child  in  China  had  a  legitimate  claim 
on  his  daughter's  time  and  interest. 

"The  greatest  fault  of  our  public  schools 
is  this  everlasting  crowding.  Why  don't 
these  educators  see  that  a  few  things  well 
done  are  better  than  something  of  this  and 
something  of  that  and  something  of  the 
other,  and  this  constant  crowding  to  get 
them." 

He  always  met  with  concurrent  opinion 
when  he  made  this  criticism.  It  was  a  very 
common  idea  among  the  parents  that  their 
children  were  over-worked  in  the  high 
school. 

It  must  appear  in  exactly  this  light  to 
those  who  see  only  the  effort  their  children 
make,  and  know  nothing  of  the  results  ac- 
complished. 

When  these  same  pupils  have  left  the 
high  school  and  have  entered  college,  they 
have  found  the  work  required  of  them  much 
more  severe.  It  has  required  of  them  at 
least  a  year  of  hard  work  before  they  have 
found  themselves  capable  of  grasping  readi- 


152  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

ly  what  is  there  demanded,  or  even  memo- 
rizing with  ease. 

But  that  was  not  the  faulf  of  the  high 
school.  It  had  required  far  less  work  of 
them  than  the  schools  of  Europe  require  of 
pupils  of  the  same  age. 

The  cause  of  this  immaturity  of  grasping 
power  is  in  the  imperfect  preparation  for 
doing  this  work.  The  method  of  impress- 
ing facts  upon  the  mind  so  as  to  call  for 
the  least  possible  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
learner  is  pursued  from  the  chart  class  to 
the  high  school,  until  when  the  time  comes 
that  the  large  area  to  be  covered  renders 
this  impracticable,  and  the  responsibility  is 
thrown  upon  the  pupil  instead  of  upon  the 
teacher,  the  effort  in  accomplishment  ap- 
pears out  of  all  proportion  to  the  results 
secured. 

This  effort  to  make  school  work  captivat- 
ing, and  this  disposition  to  judge  a  teacher's 
success  by  his  ability  to  attract  pupils  to  the 
school,  is  disastrous  to  the  best  mental  de- 
velopment of  the  child.  It  takes  the  dignity 


DODD'S  SISTER.  153 

out  of  the  work  for  the  pupil.  The  desira- 
bility of  education  diminishes  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  child.  When  he  reaches  the  high 
school,  he  considers  the  few  dollars  that  he 
can  get  for  a  "job"  of  more  value  than  the 
high  school  education.  More  hard  work  in 
the  under  grades  and  less  "grandmother" 
discipline  would  swell  our  graduating 
classes. 

When  those  children  have  left  the  school 
and  have  become  the  reading  public  and  the 
listening  public,  the  writer  and  the  speaker 
must  still  continue  to  "entertain,"  to  provide 
the  "bright"  and  "unique"  and  cover  over 
their  instruction  with  the  same  grade  of 
sugar  coating  that  the  school  teacher  used 
to  smear  over  the  morsels  of  knowledge. 

But  the  girls,  as  a  rule,  do  not  drop  out  of 
school  at  so  early  an  age.  Have  they  more 
regard  for  the  results  of  education?  Possi- 
bly so.  Girls  are  more  susceptible  to  all 
elevating  influences.  But  there  are  two 
other  more  potent  causes. 

One  of  them  is  that  the  paying  "job"  for 


154  THE  EVOLUTION   OF 

the  young  girl  is  not  so  easily  obtained. 
The  other  is  that  it  is  considered  quite  the 
thing  for  the  girls  to  have  a  career.  To 
insure  this  she  must  go  on  with  her  educa- 
tion. 

In  this  connection  here  is  another  fact. 

We  are  giving  so  much  attention  to  the 
preparation  of  girls  for  some  work  outside 
the  home  that  we  are  losing  sight  of  the  fact 
that  after  all  the  very  large  proportion  of 
girls  will  be  home-makers  and  mothers. 

It  is  desirable  that  the  home-making  be 
a  matter  of  choice  and  not  of  necessity,  and 
the  girls  be  given  the  opportunity  of  prepa- 
ration to  become  bread  winners  for  them- 
selves; yet  after  all  the  majority  of  the  girls 
will  prefer  to  become  home-makers  and 
mothers,  and  in  the  preparation  for  bread- 
winners the  mother-girl  is  being  neglected. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  girl  should 
not  be  educated  for  either  vocation.  The 
education  of  the  business  girl  ought  not  to 
interfere  with  the  development  of  the  moth- 
er-girl. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  155 

But  one  thing  is  patent  over  and  above 
all;  the  girl  who  is  to  be  a  mother  must 
have  good  health ;  education  if  possible,  but 
health  first  and  education  afterwards. 

When  the  education  of  the  girls  is  ar- 
ranged so  as  to  insure  health,  the  girl  who 
may  not  be  the  home-maker  will  be  just  as 
fortunate  in  receiving  it  as  the  mother-girl. 

Once  more  the  wheels  of  the  conference 
machinery  moved,  and  with  this  change  of 
the  Weaver  family  Ruth  entered  the  high 
school  where  her  education  was  to  be  fin- 
ished. 

Happy  would  it  have  been  for  her  if  she, 
like  Dodd,  had  come  in  contact  with  one 
teacher  who  understood  what  the  girl  need- 
ed, and  had  been  possessed  of  the  faculty 
and  the  tact  to  have  shown  her  in  true  light 
the  narrow,  false  and  selfish  life  into  which 
she  had  grown.  But  this  was  not  to  be. 

The  woman  who  had  charge  of  this 
school  had  come  to  the  position  from  the 
humblest  walks  of  life,  and  to  wealth  and 
beauty  she  still  accorded  an  adoration  that 


156  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 

she  had  conceived  for  them  when  a  little 
child. 

Ruth  was  immediately  classified  as  "stuck 
up"  by  a  large  portion  of  the  girls,  but  to 
the  teacher  she  seemed  very  charming. 

She  once  more  found  play  for  the  many 
little  arts  that  she  had  formerly  employed 
with  such  success  in  the  case  of  former 
teachers.  Before  the  first  week  was  over 
she  was  once  more  one  of  the  "teacher's 
pets." 

The  "pets"  were  composed  of  that  set  of 
girls  whom  Ruth  would  have  told  you  were 
"toney." 

This  teacher  had  never  been  able  in  the 
least  degree  to  associate  with  this  class  of 
girls  when  she  attended  school,  and  in  spite 
of  herself  she  still  retained  for  them  some- 
thing of  that  feeling  that  they  had  then  in- 
spired. 

The  most  faithful  of  her  pupils  were  not 
the  ones  who  received  the  greatest  share  of 
attention  and  favor. 

She  had  been  ground  through  the  public 


DODD'S  SISTER.  157 

school  mill;  she  had  been  properly  clipped 
and  repressed  and  moulded  and  expanded 
until  she  was  really  a  model  scholar.  When 
she  graduated  she  had  a  thin  studious  look, 
and  the  glasses  that  she  had  been  compelled 
to  wear  for  four  years  added  to  the  general 
valedictorian  air  that  distinguished  her.  She 
expected  to  earn  her  own  living  and  that  of 
her  mother  by  teaching,  and  she  had  kept 
that  point  in  view  all  through  her  school 
career. 

She  had  never  been  pretty.  A  round 
dimple  in  her  chin  had  been  the  only  at- 
tractive feature  of  her  face,  but  that  had 
proved  to  be  an  everlasting  nuisance  inas- 
much as  it  became  a  convenient  receptacle 
for  crayon  dust,  and  only  served  to  heighten 
the  school-ma'am  effect  that  had  begun  to 
attach  to  her  before  the  sleeves  of  her  gradu- 
ating dress  were  out  of  style. 

When  she,  had  taken  her  place  on  the  plat- 
form to  give  the  valedictory  address,  the 
nerves  of  her  hands  seemed  to  have  rebelled 
against  all  control  of  the  will,  and  her  back 


158  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

gave  premonitory  symptoms  of  the  same 
condition  of  general  nervous  collapse.  It 
was  not  due  to  timorousness  for  her  courage 
was  steel  braced. 

For  days  she  had  been  dizzy,  weak  and 
nauseated,  but  she  merely  called  it  "tired 
out."  She  had  no  idea  what  caused  this 
state  of  nervous  distraction.  She  had 
learned  something  of  all  the  sciences,  but 
she  was  ignorant  of  the  conditions  of  her 
own  anatomy.  So  ignorant  indeed  that  she 
never  suspected  that  her  condition  was  a 
"tired  out"  from  which  she  would  never 
become  rested. 

She  had  thought  that  the  vacation  rest 
would  relieve  her  aching  back,  and  when  in 
the  fall  she  went  to  a  co-educational  col- 
lege to  finish  her  preparation  for  teaching, 
she  was  discouraged  to  find  the  old  aches 
and  pains  returning  at  the  very  first  serious 
exertion. 

She  had  remained  three  years  at  this  col- 
lege, where  there  was  less  attention  given, 
if  such  a  thing  were  possible,  to  girls  and 


DODD'S  SISTER.  159 

their  needs  than  there  had  been  in  the  pub- 
lic schools. 

Three  years  more  of  student  work,  ham- 
pered by  a  malady  whose  crudest  quality  is 
that  it  never  kills. 

Who  can  measure,  or  who  can  know  the 
amount  of  heroism  that  thousands  of  girls 
are  showing  in  their  persistent  struggle  with 
this  suffering  as  they  drag  through  their 
college  course. 

From  the  college  she  had  gone  to  the 
high  school  as  teacher. 

Compelled  at  last  to  get  medical  advice, 
she  began  to  study  into  the  cause  of  her 
suffering.  Then  she  became  aware  that  it 
had  begun  away  back  in  the  high  school, 
where  she  had  always  been  compelled  to 
stop  at  the  top  of  the  long  stairs  from  sheer 
exhaustion. 

The  teacher  of  physical  culture  at  the  col- 
lege had  always  insisted  that  climbing  stairs 
is  really  a  benefit,  if  rightly  done.  She  was 
very  positive  that,  in  her  case,  it  had  never 
been  "rightly  done." 


160  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

It  had  been  done  just  as  it  had  been  done 
by  the  other  girls,  and  as  it  is  done  by  an 
infinitely  large  proportion  of  humanity,  and 
she  was  aware  that  she  had  suffered  from  it. 

She  began  to  see  other  causes  that  ac- 
counted for  her  condition. 

She  remembered  her  ignorance,  and  con- 
sequent carelessness.  No  one  had  told  her 
what  it  might  mean.  Her  mother  herself 
did  not  know.  The  doctor  did  not  tell  her, 
because  she  never  asked. 

She  was  a  conscientious  woman.  She 
wanted  to  do  what  was  right  for  these  girls 
in  her  care.  What  should  she  do? 

She  decided  that  she  would  begin  with  a 
talk  with  reference  to  climbing  the  stairs, 
and  try  to  impress  upon  the  girls  the  neces- 
sity of  care.  Accordingly  she  detained  them 
one  afternoon,  and  standing  on  the  platform 
before  them  she  began  by  saying: 

"I  want  to  talk  to  the  young  ladies  in 
regard  to  a  subject  that  I  think  it  very  im- 
portant for  them  to  understand.  It  is  in 


DODD'S   SISTER.  161 

regard  to  the  manner  of  going  up  and  down 
stairs." 

She  went  on  and  tried  by  the  use  of  gen- 
eral terms  to  impress  upon  them  her  mean- 
ing. She  had  intended  to  talk  very  plainly 
to  them,  but  she  found  that  when  she  stood 
before  the  girls  it  was  no  easy  matter  to 
say  what  she  wished. 

She  had  not  realized  the  difficulties  of  her 
undertaking,  but  she  knew  by  the  look  of 
indifference  on  their  faces  and  their  list- 
less attitudes  that  the  subject  had  not  ap- 
pealed to  them  as  being  of  any  more  im- 
portance than  a  hundred  others  that  she  had 
talked  to  them  about,  and  she  realized  as 
they  filed  out  that  she  had  not  made  enough 
of  an  impression  on  their  minds  to  have  any 
good  result. 

Had  she  heard  the  scattering  remarks  in 
the  cloak  room,  she  would  have  been  con- 
vinced that  her  fears  were  not  groundless. 

The  saucy  spirites  called  to  one  another. 

"What's  the  matter  with  the  old  lady?" 

"O,  she's  got  an  extra  dose  of  back-ache." 
n 


162  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

"Look  out  there,  Min !  You  want  to  go  a 
little  slow  down  those  stairs  or  something 
will  get  you." 

"Look  at  me,  girls,  look!  I'll  show  you 
how  to  go  down." 

Shrieks  of  laughter  floated  into  the 
school  room. 

Why  had  she  failed?  That  was  one  of  the 
problems  on  which  she  studied  long. 

She  found  that  her  own  impressions  of 
everything  associated  with  sex  were  so 
saturated  with  the  moral  element  that  it  was 
impossible  to  discuss  the  matter  in  a  philo- 
sophical manner.  In  talking  to  young  ladies 
she  was  in  constant  terror  of  saying  some- 
thing indelicate. 

She  tried  not  to  allow  this  feeling  to  in- 
fluence her.  She  struggled  against  it  in  re- 
peated efforts  to  talk  to  the  girls,  but  the 
horrified  expression  on  their  faces  when  she 
used  any  term  to  express  her  meaning  that 
was  out  of  the  vocabulary  of  common  con- 
versation discouraged  her. 

Gradually    she    relinquished   her  efforts, 


DODD'S  SISTER.  163 

and  silenced  her  conscience  with  the  argu- 
ment that  she  was  not  responsible  for  the  in- 
struction of  these  girls  in  such  matters. 

She  was  no  doubt  right.  But  the  diffi- 
culty in  doing  anything  to  help  the  mothers 
was  caused  by  the  utter  neglect  of  the  moth- 
ers themselves  to  properly  instruct  their 
own  girls. 

A  very  large  proportion  of  the  girls  in 
that  room  had  received  all  their  knowledge 
by  back  door  confidences  from  older  girls. 

Their  very  first,  and  in  fact  their  every 
impression,  was  associated  with  the  most 
vulgar  ideas,  and  it  was  shocking  to  hear 
matters  in  any  way  related  to  these  publicly 
discussed  by  the  teacher. 

Information  given  in  a  straightforward 
way  when  they  first  began  to  comprehend 
these  matters  would  have  surrounded  the 
whole  subject  with  a  very  different  atmos- 
phere. 

Howbeit,  the  mothers  who  intend  doing 
this  for  their  children  must  needs  begin 
early,  or  they  will  find  the  matter  taken  out 


164  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

of  their  hands  by  enterprising  schoolmates, 
before  the  children  have  been  in  school  a 
term. 

By  the  time  that  another  generation  has 
passed  away,  if  we  do  not  look  well  to  condi- 
tions, our  school  children  will  have  arrived 
at  the  same  condition  as  that  described  of 
the  French  children  by  a  plain-spoken 
author,  they  will  be  taught  that  "It  is  manly 
to  be  nasty,"  and  the  morals  of  the  whole 
nation  will  be  permeated  with  the  same  ele- 
ment. 

The  freedom  of  the  Germans  in  these 
things  is  somewhat  shocking  to  American 
ears,  but  it  is  far  better  to  treat  them  phil- 
osophically than  to  vilify  them  after  the 
American  fashion. 

The  teacher  who  would  really  benefit  the 
girls  under  her  care,  could  do  no  grander 
work  than  to  send  them  out  with  a  pure  and 
noble  conception  of  their  own  creation  and 
destiny. 

Convince  them  that  the  mission  of  moth- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  165 

erhood  is  grand;  that  missing  it,  they  have 
missed  woman's  choicest  blessing. 

But  the  woman  who  would  do  this  must 
be  brave  as  a  warrior,  for  she  will  find  not 
only  that  the  girls  are  shocked,  but  the 
mothers  also. 

In  this,  as  in  all  school  reforms,  the  re- 
formation must  begin  with  the  parents.  But 
when  it  is  certain  that  the  children  of  Ameri- 
ca are  receiving  their  instruction  in  regard 
to  the  creative  power  in  nature  largely  in 
the  public  schools,  and  that  it  is  given  in 
the  most  pernicious  manner,  cloyed  with 
the  most  vulgar  association  and  suggestion, 
how  can  the  conscientious  teacher  avoid 
feeling  some  responsibility  for  the  results? 

Ruth's  teacher  did  not  have  the  spirit  of 
a  pioneer.  She  found  the  enemy  within 
as  well  as  without,  and  she  gave  up  the 
battle. 

Then  when  she  saw  girls  like  Ruth,  fool- 
ish, careless,  ignorant,  she  wondered  at  her 
own  cowardice. 

Ruth  was  now  using  each  day  every  par- 


166  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

ticle  of  vitality  in  her  effort  to  supply  all 
the  demands  upon  her  time  and  strength. 
She  did  not  deny  herself  any  of  the  social 
pleasures  of  which  she  was  so  fond,  and  she 
found  enjoyment  in  trying  her  coquettish 
arts  on  the  young  men. 

Almost  before  she  was  aware  of  it  came 
the  graduating  essay  and  the  graduating 
dress.  She  had  her  customary  struggle 
over  the  dress. 

One  thing  was  certain  at  the  outset;  she 
could  never  mount  that  platform,  unless  her 
dress  was  just  as  good  as  that  of  the  other 
girls.  "The  other  girls"  meant  a  few  of  her 
companions  whose  fathers'  pockets  were 
very  much  deeper  than  Elder  Weaver's. 

Her  persistence  had  the  usual  result,  and 
the  dress  that  the  pretty  daughter  of  the 
preacher  wore  was  bought  at  the  sacrifice 
of  the  common  necessities  by  the  other 
members  of  the  family. 

Ruth  had  taken  for  the  subject  of  her 
graduating  essay,  "The  Lessons  of  Life." 
It  was  not  that  she  had  been  pondering  long 


DODDS   SISTER.  167 

upon  this  subject  of  life's  problems;  she 
selected  it  because  it  gave  an  impression  of 
profundity,  for  she  was  determined  to  have 
nothing  childish  for  her  subject. 

She  was  not  the  only  one  of  the  class 
who  had  decided  to  instruct  the  audience 
on  subjects  that  they  were  much  better 
prepared  to  speak  on  than  were  the  writers. 

One  of  the  boys  would  enlighten  them 
on  "Can  an  Honest  Man  Be  a  Lawyer?" 
another  would  tell  about  "Our  Star  of  Des- 
tiny;" and  other  similar  subjects  that  would 
have  sent  an  ordinary  divine  into  a  brown 
study  adorned  the  program. 

When  Ruth  had  selected  her  subject,  she 
wrote  it  nicely  at  the  top  of  a  clean  sheet 
of  paper,  and  then  looked  at  it  for  a  long 
time,  meditatively  chewing  her  pencil. 
Finally  it  began  to  dawn  upon  her  that  she 
knew  nothing  about  it;  but  that  was  no 
obstacle;  she  had  written  a  great  many  es- 
says upon  subjects  about  which  she  knew 
nothing.  The  first  and  greatest  thing  was 
to  make  a  start.  She  would  write  some- 


168  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

thing  first  about  the  "lessons"  in  school; 
then  she  would  go  on  to  the  "life"  part.  It 
went  very  smoothly  for  a  while;  she  knew 
something  about  that,  and  when  she  wrote 
about  what  she  knew,  she  did  very  well. 

However,  the  struggle  over  that  essay 
had  just  begun,  and  when  it  was  at  last 
finished,  it  bristled  all  over  with  wise  say- 
ings in  search  of  which  she  had  ransacked 
volumes  of  essays  and  sermons. 

The  audience  listened  with  indulgent  pa- 
tience. It  is  astonishing  what  people  will 
endure  when  their  own  children  are  partici- 
pants in  the  program. 

There  was  one  grievous  disappointment 
to  Ruth,  and  that  was  that  she  must  see  her 
name  on  the  elegant,  satin-beribboned  pro- 
gram just  plain  Ruth  Weaver.  If  it  could 
have  only  been  Alice,  or  May,  or  Mamie, 
so  that  she  could  have  had  it  printed"  Alys" 
or  "Mayme"  it  would  have  had  so  much 
more  "tone."  Even  if  it  had  been  a  middle 
name  it  would  have  answered  nicely.  "Miss 
R.  Alys  Weaver"  would  have  been  quite  the 


DODD'S  SISTER.  169 

thing.  But  the  absence  of  the  unique  and 
picturesque  in  just  "Ruth"  was  a  reflection 
on  that  artistic  program. 

When  commencement  was  over  and 
Ruth's  school  days  were  ended,  she  was 
exultant.  Now  would  come  the  promised 
year  with  Auntie  May.  The  little  wardrobe 
was  gathered  together,  and  she  gave  a  part- 
ing kiss  to  the  flock  of  brothers  and  sisters, 
and  with  a  light  heart  passed  out  from  the 
minister's  home.  She  would  never  come 
again  except  for  very  short  visits,  and  it 
brought  a  feeling  of  sadness  to  the  mother's 
heart  as  she  saw  her  daughter's  glad  eager- 
ness to  go.  It  would  have  been  a  comfort 
to  have  seen  a  tear  for  this  parting  from 
home  and  mother;  but  Ruth  had  been  ac- 
customed all  her  young  life  to  consider  her- 
self alone,  and  the  mother,  who  had  always 
sacrificed  her  own  comfort  for  the  daugh- 
ter, found  that  the  daughter  valued  her  very 
lightly,  and  the  home  that  had  been  used 
merely  for  her  indulgence,  and  had  never 


170  THE  EVOLUTION   OF 

claimed  anything  from  her,  must  expect  no 
affectionate  grief  at  her  departure. 

She  was  now  a  full-fledged  young  lady, 
and  Auntie  May's  home  was  to  be  the  scene 
of  her  future  career  as  a  maiden.  This  lux- 
urious home  of  Mrs.  Nelson's  had  been  the 
fairy-land  of  her  childhood.  She  had 
longed  for  years  to  leave  the  humble  par- 
sonage. 

Auntie  May  had  lost  her  little  ones  when 
they  were  infants,  and  would  gladly  have 
opened  her  heart  and  home  to  her  brother's 
child. 

"How  I  would  like  to  take  that  child! 
Wouldn't  I  dress  her  though!"  She  had 
made  this  remark  in  Ruth's  presence,  little 
realizing  what  encouragement  it  gave  to 
her  discontent. 

"No,  May,  you  can't  have  her.  Our 
home  is  full,  but  there  is  not  one  too  many." 

"You  will  come  when  you  are  through 
school  and  stay  a  year,  won't  you  Ruth?'' 

And  the  little  girl  never  forgot  her  prom- 
ise. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  171 

Now  Auntie  May  was  a  woman  devoted 
to  society  and  style.  She  had  in  her  hus- 
band a  sympathetic  companion,  whose  love 
of  display  was  almost  equal  to  her  own. 
Their  home  was  the  scene  of  constant 
gayety,  and  this  life  appealed  very  strongly 
to  Ruth. 

Since  her  marriage  Mrs.  Nelson  had 
never  known  what  economy  meant,  and  her 
gifts  to  the  girl  had  gone  far  towards  en- 
abling her  to  maintain  a  proper  standing 
amongst  her  associates. 

This  condition  of  things,  however,  was 
now  sadly  altered,  and  in  the  business  de- 
pression that  had  ruined  so  many  around 
him,  Mr.  Nelson  had  been  barely  able  to 
maintain  a  show  of  their  former  style  of 
living.  The  relations  between  himself  and 
wife  were  not  as  pleasant  as  they  were 
when  neither  was  compelled  to  restrain  the 
desire  for  display,  and  there  were  frequent 
scenes  over  the  bills. 

All  in  vain  did  he  explain  and  entreat, 
then  storm  and  swear.  She  thought  he  was 


172  THE  EVOLUTION   OF 

very  disagreeable,  and  insisted  that  it  was 
very  unreasonable  to  expect  her  to  give  up 
so  small  a  matter  as  a  new  style  of  hat, 
when  he  indulged  in  the  expensive  luxury 
of  smoking. 

These  storms  over  the  bills  did  not  shock 
Ruth  in  the  least.  They  reminded  her  of 
the  battles  she  had  fought  at  home,  and  she 
wondered  if  all  men  were  so  mean  with 
their  money.  Auntie  May  was  certainly 
angelic  to  bear  it  so  calmly. 

Now  that  Ruth  had  come  with  her  limited 
wardrobe,  the  question  was  still  more 
grave,  but  she  would  manage  somehow. 
Who  could  tell  what  they  might  not  be  able 
to  do  in  a  year's  time  for  a  pretty  girl  like 
Ruth?  She  had  every  marriageable  man  in 
town  summed  up  and  ticketed.  As  soon  as 
Ruth  came  she  began  a  rehearsal  of  the  dif- 
ferent possibilities,  and  together  they 
planned  their  campaign. 

Ruth  felt  no  reluctance  in  laying  her 
heart  open  to  Auntie  May,  for  she  felt  no 
fear  of  her  criticisms. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  173 

That  Ruth  could  discuss  marriage  with 
such  sang  froid,  at  first  rather  startled  Mrs. 
Nelson  but  finally  amused  her.  She  intro- 
duced her  neice  into  the  young  society  of 
the  town,  and  she  immediately  became  a 
great  favorite  with  the  gentlemen. 

From  their  catalogue  of  possibilities  they 
selected  Robert  Douglas,  who  was  to  be 
the  victim  of  the  first  campaign.  He  was 
a  man  of  thirty  odd  years,  and  a  lawyer  of 
marked  success.  He  had  inherited  consid- 
erable wealth,  and  had  bright  prospects  for 
enlarging  his  fortune.  He  was  an  educated 
and  cultured  man,  and  they  considered  him 
in  every  way  a  most  desirable  match. 

"Don't  you  think  that  you  had  better  join 
the  Browning  club,  Ruth?  His  sister  is  the 
president,  and  they  are  very  literary  people. 
It  will  never  do  not  to  be  literary  to  begin 
with." 

"O,  I  suppose  so;  I  don't  want  to  in  the 
least.  I  thought  I  was  through  with  all  that 
horrid  stuff  when  I  left  school,  and  that 


174  THE   EVOLUTION  OP 

we  were  just  to  have  a  good  time  now.  But 
of  course  I  must  be  literary." 

"I  know,  dear,  it's  something  of  a  bore, 
but  it  would  never  do  not  to  be  literary  a 
little.  We  won't  have  to  go  every  week.  I 
only  go  occasionally  myself." 

"You  will  have  to  go  oftener  now,  Auntie, 
and  tell  them  I  enjoy  it  so  much  that  I  fairly 
drag  you  there." 

"Ruth,  you  promise  to  out-general  me." 

It  was  at  Mrs.  Nelson's  home  that  the 
enemy's  strongholds  were  first  attacked.  A 
new  gown  was  procured  for  the  occasion, 
and  hours  were  spent  at  the  piano  in  prepa- 
ration for  the  first  appearance. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  guests  had  ar- 
rived that  Mr.  Nelson  understood  their  lit- 
tle game,  as  he  called  it.  He  smiled  in  a 
cynical  way  as  he  soliloquized : 

"Now  Douglas  is  no  fool.  He  won't  bite. 
May  will  find  her  little  game  won't  work 
with  him." 

Mrs.  Nelson  herself  had  some  fears  for 
the  success  of  her  long  cherished  plans.  In 


DODD'S   SISTER.  175 

the  first  place  she  had  some  apprehension 
lest  Ruth  might  be  attracted  by  some  of  the 
gayer,  younger  men,  and  let  some  silly  pref- 
erence stand  in  the  way  of  her  own  best 
good:  or  lest  she  might  not  exert  herself 
to  her  best  efforts;  or  possibly  lest  she 
might  not  understand  just  the  proper 
way  to  do  it.  Her  fears  were  all 
in  vain.  There  was  no  more  danger  of  Ruth 
Weaver  suddenly  finding  that  her  heart  had 
rebelled  against  her  judgment  and  was  lead- 
ing her  to  sacrifice  her  worldly  interests  to 
the  joys  of  love,  than  there  was  of  her  so- 
phisticated Auntie  May  advising  it;  nor 
was  there  any  danger  of  her  not  knowing 
all  about  the  different  methods.  She  had 
studied  them  too  long  and  diligently  to  be 
found  wanting  at  such  a  critical  time. 

She  knew  the  exact  sweep  of  the  eye-lash 
that  was  the  most  effective;  she  knew  just 
when  to  dimple  her  cheeks,  and  just  when 
to  smile;  she  had  tested  these  little  arts 
when  she  still  wore  short  dresses,  and  vied 


176  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

with  the  other  girls  for  attention  from  the 
schoolboys. 

She  had,  moreover,  the  art  of  arts;  she 
could  employ  every  one  of  these  seemingly 
girlish  ways  with  a  perfect  knowledge  of 
their  effect,  and  yet  impress  the  man  with 
whom  she  talked  with  the  idea  that  they 
were  all  the  unconscious  expressions  of 
maiden  modesty  and  sweetness.  Even  Mr. 
Nelson  thought  her  a  sweet  little  thing 
whom  it  would  be  a  great  pity  for  May  to 
spoil. 

Another  of  Auntie  May's  fears  was  lest 
Mr.  Douglas,  who  was  known  to  be  not 
over  sensitive  to  feminine  charms,  might 
not  be  as  responsive  as  she  hoped.  Well, 
they  would  try  him  first.  If  that  did  not 
succeed,  she  would  know  better  how  to  pro- 
ceed next  time. 

It  was  after  supper  when  Mr.  Nelson 
came  into  the  parlor.  He  stopped  short 
and  looked  at  the  scene  at  the  end  of  the 
piano. 

Ruth  was  leaning  on  her  arms,  with  her 


DODD'S  SISTER.  177 

clasped  hands  reached  above  her  head  to 
the  top  of  the  piano.  She  was  looking 
down,  smiling  and  talking  the  merest  noth- 
ings with  girlish  effervescence.  Opposite 
her  stood  the  lawyer,  with  a  look  of  admira- 
tion on  his  face  that  he  had  never  seen  there 
before. 

"If  Douglas  hasn't  bit !  I'll  be !"  and 

the  rest  of  the  sentence  was  better  smother- 
ed before  his  guests. 

After  the  company  had  departed,  Mrs. 
Nelson  and  Ruth  sat  a  long  time  talking  it 
over.  Their  verdict  was  that  it  was  a  great 
success.  Ruth  repeated  everything  that 
would  be  at  all  indicative  of  the  impression 
that  she  had  made,  and  asked  if  that  pose 
that  she  had  taken  at  the  end  of  the  piano 
was  not  effective. 

"Immensely,"  her  auntie  assured  her. 
"You  must  have  given  that  some  practice, 
Ruth." 

"O,  yes,  I  have.  I  consider  that  one  of 
my  best." 

12 


178  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 

"Well,  how  do  you  like  him?  He  is  fine, 
I  think." 

"O,  he  is  all  right." 

Ruth  had  been  so  engaged  making  an 
impression  herself,  that  she  really  had  not 
thought  much  about  the  man. 

"O,  but  I  am  so  tired,  Auntie!  It  seems 
as  if  I  could  scarcely  walk  up  stairs." 

"Well,  don't  come  down  in  the  morning 
until  you  please.  We  will  have  to  get 
around  in  time  for  Mrs.  Wilson's  luncheon, 
but  there  is  no  need  for  you  to  get  up  be- 
fore noon." 

"I  don't  know  as  that  will  make  much 
difference,  for  I  am  just  awfully  tired  all 
the  time.  I  thought  that  when  I  came  here 
I  should  certainly  get  rested,  but  I  don't." 

"O,  well,  you  must  get  used  to  that.  Wo- 
men are  always  more  or  less  tired  unless 
they  are  very  common.  If  you  continue  to 
succeed  as  well  as  you  did  to-night  with  Mr. 
Douglas,  you  will  have  nothing  to  do  but 
rest." 

If  Mr.  Nelson  was  astonished  at  the  ease 


DODD'S  SISTER.  179 

with  which  his  wife  and  niece  captured  the 
lawyer,  he  was  still  more  so  that  he  con- 
tinued to  show  the  same  interest 

He  remarked  to  his  wife. 

"That  gets  me,  that  a  man  like  Douglas 
will  run  around  after  a  chit  of  a  girl  like 
Ruth,  and  let  you  folks  work  him  in  that 
style.  Why,  he's  one  of  the  shrewdest  law- 
yers around  here,  and  I've  known  him  to 
see  through  schemes  at  the  caucuses  when 
the  rest  of  us  fellows  were  blind  as  bats. 
Now  he's  letting  himself  be  made  a  fool  of 
by  a  couple  of  women." 

"I  don't  see  the  use,  Richard,  in  your 
talking  in  that  way.  Why  do  you  call  a 
man  a  fool,  simply  because  he  likes  a  pretty 
girl?  Ruth  is  certainly  very  charming,  and 
Mr.  Douglas  may  consider  himself  fortu- 
nate if  he  gets  such  a  lovely  wife.  I'm  not 
at  all  certain  that  Ruth  would  have  him." 

A  significant  grunt  was  all  the  rejoinder 
that  Mr.  Nelson  made  as  he  sipped  his  cof- 
fee. They  were  alone  at  the  breakfast  table, 


180  THE   EVOLUTION  OP 

as  Ruth  seldom  came  down  in  time  for  the 
morning  meal. 

It  did  certainly  appear  that  Mr.  Nelson's 
prophecy  that  his  friend  would  fall  an  easy 
prey  to  the  wiles  of  his  wife  and  niece  would 
be  fulfilled. 

All  through  the  summer  months  Ruth 
was  devoting  her  entire  energy  to  the 
cause.  The  mornings  were  spent  in  bed,  or 
in  discussing  the  next  new  costume,  or  in 
complaining  attempts  to  prepare  for  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Browning  Club. 

"Do  you  know,  Auntie,  Mr.  Douglas 
asked  me  what  I  thought  of  Browning's 
poem  on  "The  Book,"  and  if  I  didn't  think 
that  passage  about  Art  speaking  truth 
obliquely,  or  some  such  thing,  was  particu- 
larly fine.  I  declare,  Auntie,  I  was  perfect- 
ly rattled  for  a  minute.  I  didn't  know  what 
to  answer.  I  didn't  just  want  to  confess 
that  I  had  never  read  it  when  he  thinks  that 
I  have  been  in  absorbing  study  of  Brown- 
ing ever  since  I  have  been  here." 

"Well,  what  did  you  say?" 


DODD'S  SISTER.  181 

"O,  I  said  'Do  explain  that  to  me.  I  have 
often  wondered  just  what  Browning  meant 
by  that.  He  is  so  obscure.'  So  he  ex- 
plained it  all  to  me  in  the  most  obliging 
way.  I  must  read  it  now  so  that  I  can  quote 
a  line  or  two  some  day  and  tell  him  it  is  so 
beautiful  since  he  explained  it  to  me." 

"Ruth,  you  are  cute.  What  a  true  dis- 
ciple to  the  new  idea  you  are !  I  was  a  great 
deal  older  than  you  before  I  discovered  that 
wise  men  do  love  a  woman  that  they  can 
explain  things  to." 

"I  never  pretend  to  know  anything  foi 
real  sure  with  him,  and  he  is  just  lovely 
about  explaining  things.  In  fact,  Auntie 
May,  I  don't  know  what  we  should  talk 
about  some  of  the  time,  if  I  didn't  keep  a 
lot  of  things  on  hand  to  be  explained.  When 
I  get  short  I  always  ask  something  about 
law  and  that  keeps  him  going  quite  a 
while." 

"That  will  all  do  very  well  for  a  starter, 
Ruth,  but  we  must  do  something  to  bring 
matters  to  a  crisis.  He  has  been  coming 


182  THE    EVOLUTION   OF 

here  for  three  months,  and  things  seem  no 
nearer  to  an  understanding  than  before." 

"O,  I  can  soon  manage  that  when  the 
proper  time  comes.  We  are  going  driving 
to-morrow  night,  and  it  will  be  lovely  moon- 
light." 

"I  see  I  can  trust  you,  Ruth.  I  thought 
you  would  need  some  pointers.  I  have  been 
picking  them  up  for  years,  and  have  been 
in  society  constantly,  but,  I  declare,  you 
can  give  them  to  me.  Where  did  you  learn 
all  this?" 

"O,  in  school." 

"In  school?    What  do  you  mean?" 

"O,  we  used  to  tell  each  other  how  we 
worked  those  things  on  the  boys,  and  we 
got  the  benefit  of  one  another's  experience. 
There  are  a  variety  of  ways.  It  all  depends 
on  the  boy  and  the  time,  Auntie." 

"Well,  I  declare,  you  girls  are  too  wise  for 
your  age.  You  certainly  belong  to  a  differ- 
ent generation  from  what  I  did.  I  see  you 
are  fully  capable  of  taking  care  of  yourself.'' 

There  was  consternation  in  the  camp  at 


DODD'S  SISTER.  183 

Auntie  May's  when  Ruth  received  a  note 
from  Mr.  Douglas  saying  that  his  mother's 
sudden  illness  had  made  it  necessary  for 
him  to  accompany  her  to  Chicago,  and  he 
feared  that  he  might  not  be  able  to  return 
for  some  time. 

"How  disgusting!"  exclaimed  Ruth.  "If 
I  had  known  that  I  could  just  as  well  have 
had  everything  arranged  before  he  went" 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  accept 
the  inevitable ;  and  when  a  letter  came  later 
from  Mr.  Douglas  Ruth  complained  bitterly 
at  her  fate  in  being  compelled  to  write. 
When  she  had  curls  and  blue  eyes  and 
smiles  at  her  command  she  could  manage 
him  all  right,  but  a  page  of  paper  remote 
from  herself  was  a  different  thing. 

Her  writing  since  she  had  left  school  had 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  a  few  very  short 
letters  to  her  mother,  and  some  more 
lengthy  ones  to  the  girls  at  home.  Mr. 
Douglas  figured  largely  in  these.  She  had 
to  rely  chiefly  on  Auntie  May's  devices  for 
filling  out  a  page,  and  when  Mr.  Douglas, 


184  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

instead  of  returning  in  the  winter  months, 
had  taken  his  mother  to  Florida,  her  dis- 
gust knew  no  bounds. 

"I  had  planned  everything  to  have  the 
wedding  at  the  Holidays,  and  now  he  says 
that  he  don't  know  when  he  can  return. 
His  mother  must  be  very  childish  to  want 
him  with  her  all  the  time." 

"They  say  she  is  very  weak,  and  he  was 
always  devoted  to  her." 

"Well,  there  is  nothing  to  be  done  but  to 
have  a  good  time  until  he  does  come  back, 
I  suppose." 

"I  don't  know,  Ruth;  I  am  really  afraid 
that  we  shall  have  to  do  something.  Rich- 
ard told  me  last  night  that  they  had  lost 
considerable  by  that  last  failure,  and  that 
money  would  be  exceedingly  scarce.  I  do 
wish  it  was  as  it  used  to  be,  and  that 
I  could  do  for  you  everything  that  I 
want  to,  but  really  I  can  not  see  how  we 
are  going  to  manage  about  your  new  wrap 
and  winter  clothing.  You  couldn't  get  work 
in  the  school  at  your  home,  could  you? 


DODD'S  SISTER.  185 

But  of  course  you  must  be  here  when 
Mr.  Douglas  comes  back.  It  would  be  rank 
folly  not  to  follow  that  up.  O,  I  have  an 
idea !  Milly  Sanders  is  not  going  to  be  able 
to  teach  alter  Christmas,  and  I  believe  we 
could  get  that  school  for  you." 

"O,  Auntie  May!  How  ever  can  I?  I 
don't  know  as  I  can  get  a  certificate." 

"Why,  you  certainly  can,  Ruth.  You 
were  always  considered  a  good  scholar,  and 
it  will  not  be  for  long,  you  know.  He  will 
certainly  be  back  by  the  Holidays.  Richard 
said  that  he  had  an  important  case  coming 
on  in  the  January  term  of  court,  and  he 
will  have  to  be  here,  and  it  may  be  that  you 
will  not  have  to  teach  more  than  a  term.  I 
am  dreadfully  sorry,  Ruth,  but  I  know  there 
is  no  use  asking  Richard  for  anything  more. 
You  know  that  he  is  really  so  liberal  when 
he  does  have  money.  You  might  just  as 
well  give  up  the  battle  at  once,  if  you  can 
not  have  a  proper  wardrobe.  You  can 
board  with  us,  and  I  can  help  you  some. 
You  know  you  will  need  so  many  things.  I 


186  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

am  sure  that  Richard  can  get  the  place  for 
you." 

Ruth  finally  decided  to  make  the  attempt. 
When  Uncle  Richard  was  approached,  he 
was  very  willing  to  try  what  he  could  do 
for  her. 

"If  it  isn't  promised  already,  I  know  I  can 
get  the  place  for  you,  for  I  have  a  pull  with 
several  of  those  fellows  on  the  school 
board."  The  place  was  not  promised,  and 
Mr.  Nelson  employed  his  "pull"  with  good 
effect.  Thus  it  came  about  that  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  winter  term  Ruth  found  her- 
self in  the  school  room  again. 

Some  wondered  at  her  election,  for  she 
had  had  no  "experience"  nor  special  prepa- 
ration, and  there  were  girls  of  their  own 
town  and  school  much  better  prepared  for 
the  work. 

When  the  members  of  the  school  board 
were  asked  about  it,  no  one  seemed  to  know 
anything  about  the  circumstances;  in  real- 
ity they  knew  exactly  how  it  happened. 
They  did  not  feel  free  to  confess  this  knowl- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  187 

edge,  nor  to  expose  the  members  who  had 
been  influential  in  the  matter.  There  was 
no  knowing  how  soon  they  might  want  a 
like  favor  themselves.  They  felt  no  personal 
responsibility. 

Conscience  is  so  much  more  callous,  col- 
lectively, than  it  is  individually. 

When  Ruth  first  stepped  into  the  room 
where  she  was  to  preside  as  teacher,  there 
was  rank  rebellion  in  her  heart.  How  dread- 
ful that  she  must  do  this  just  because  she 
must  have  a  new  wrap  this  winter.  Auntie 
May  said  it  would  cost  fifty  dollars  to  get 
what  she  really  ought  to  have.  She  would 
have  to  teach  more  than  a  month  to  earn  that. 
Why  couldn't  her  father  have  sent  her  that 
much  money?  It  was  decidedly  mean  of 
him.  Uncle  Richard  was  a  regular  miser, 
too;  and  if  Mr.  Douglas'  inconsiderate  old 
mother  hadn't  gotten  sick  just  at  the  wrong 
time  she  could  have  been  in  Florida  herself 
now,  instead  of  being  shut  up  with  those 
hateful  children.  It  was  by  a  very  great 
effort  that  she  kept  back  the  tears,  while  the 


188  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

children  in  the  room  were  all  watching  her 
face,  trying  to  decipher  their  probable  fate 
for  the  coming  term. 

Ruth's  forebodings  of  her  abhorrence  of 
her  work  were  more  than  justified  be- 
fore many  weeks  had  gone  by.  Every 
night  she  returned  from  her  work  with  ach- 
ing back  and  tingling  nerves.  Pandemo- 
nium reigned  in  the  school  room.  She  heart- 
ily hated  every  one  of  the  little  animals  that 
tortured  her,  and  they  reciprocated  the  feel- 
ing with  a  manifest  energy  that  did  credit 
to  the  age  that  has  been  called  the  animal 
age  of  childhood. 

The  friends  of  the  other  candidates  point- 
ed with  great  satisfaction  to  her  failure,  and 
hoped  to  see  the  position  soon  vacant  again. 

When  Ruth  drew  her  first  month's  pay, 
it  did  not  seem  possible  to  her  that  all  those 
days  of  misery  should  have  been  necessary 
to  produce  just  one  fur  cape. 

"Auntie,  I  won't  have  to  spend  it  all  for 
just  a  cape,  will  -I?" 

"Why,  certainly,  dear;   that  will  not  be 


DODD'S  SISTER.  189 

much  to  put  in  a  wrap.  You  can't  begin  to 
get  anything  that  will  answer  for  less." 

This  was  said  in  the  presence  of  Uncle 
Richard. 

"Learning  the  value  of  a  dollar,  hey? 
Didn't  know  they  came  so  high." 

Ruth  thought  that  was  brutal,  but  Uncle 
Richard  really  looked  at  it  in  the  light  of  a 
favor  to  his  friend  Douglas. 

"I  wish  some  one  had  taught  May  what  a 
dollar  costs  before  she  was  married.  She 
hasn't  the  least  conception." 

At  last  the  time  was  at  hand  for  Mr. 
Douglas'  return.  Then  one  noon  Mr.  Nel- 
son announced  that  the  mother  had  died 
and  that  they  were  bringing  her  home  for 
burial. 

"Now,  that  is  too  bad,"  said  Auntie  May. 

The  expression  sounded  very  sympathet- 
ic, but  the  sympathy  was  for  Ruth.  She 
foresaw  in  this  another  obstacle  to  their 
plans. 

Mr.  Douglas  was  home  for  several  weeks 
before  he  called  again.  The  Nelson  home 


190  THE  EVOLUTION  OP 

did  not  have  as  much  attraction  for  him  as 
before  his  departure,  for  the  insipidity  of 
Ruth's  letters  had  banished  many  of  the  im- 
pressions left  by  her  bright  smiles. 

"Now,  Auntie,  you  must  help  me  out.  I 
don't  want  Mr.  Douglas  to  have  any  idea 
why  I  went  to  teaching.  You  must  give 
him  the  right  impression.  I  saw  him  to- 
day, and  he  is  going  to  call  tonight." 

Auntie  May  needed  no  instructions  to  do 
the  right  thing  in  this  regard. 

Ruth  was  in  her  room  when  he  was  ush- 
ered into  the  parlor  that  evening,  and 
Auntie  May  thought  this  a  good  oppor- 
tunity to  make  a  few  remarks  that  she  had 
prepared. 

"Ruth  is  resting,"  she  said,  "but  I  will  ^all 
her." 

"O,  do  not  disturb  her  if  she  is  resting." 

"She  would  never  forgive  me  if  I  did  not. 
She  gets  very  tired  teaching.  She  has  such 
an  independent  nature  that  she  simply 
would  not  consent  to  let  us  do  what  we 
wanted  to  for  her.  She  insisted  on  teaching, 


DODD'S  SISTER.  191 

and  it  is  a  terrible  tax  on  her  strength.  She 
throws  her  whole  soul  into  the  work,  and  I 
think  that  it  is  too  much  for  a  frail  girl  like 
her  to  be  shut  up  with  all  those  children.  I 
can  not  persuade  her  to  give  it  up.  But  I 
will  call  her.  You  must  never  let  her  know 
what  I  have  said." 

In  a  few  moments  Ruth  appeared,  and 
Mr.  Douglas  was  impressed  with  the  truth 
of  these  remarks,  when  he  saw  how  very 
listless  and  worn  she  was.  But  this  did  not 
last  long;  in  a  few  moments  the  old  anima- 
tion returned.  Lassitude  may  do  very  well 
to  create  sympathy,  but  it  soon  grows  wear- 
isome. When  Mr.  Douglas  was  leaving, 
Auntie  May  came  into  the  hall  and,  throw- 
ing her  arms  around  Ruth's  shoulders,  said : 

"You  must  come  often,  Mr.  Douglas,  and 
cheer  up  our  girlie.  She  gives  so  much  of 
her  vitality  to  that  school  that  she  is  really 
depriving  herself  of  society.  I  don't  know 
when  I  have  seen  her  enjoy  herself  as  she 
has  tonight." 


192  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

Mr.  Douglas  assured  them  that  he  would 
be  delighted  to  come  often. 

"Well,  that  was  a  good  evening's  work, 
Ruth;  I  feel  as  if  we  had  the  thing  started 
again."  This  was  Auntie  May's  good-night 
remark. 

The  promise  to  come  often  was  fulfilled, 
and  inasmuch  as  Ruth  insisted  that,  being 
absorbed  in  her  work,  she  really  cared  noth- 
ing for  society,  he  found  a  growing  attrac- 
tion in  the  Nelson  home. 

Ruth  realized  what  it  might  mean  to  fail 
in  her  plans,  and  her  ardor  in  the  undertak- 
ing was  renewed. 

"Now,  Ruth,  you  must  not  let  this  go  on 
any  longer.  You  must  bring  things  to  a  fo- 
cus at  once.  There  is  no  telling  what  may 
happen.  His  sister  may  get  sick  next.  It 
really  frightened  me  the  way  things  looked 
for  a  while." 

"Well,  I  was  just  going  to  suggest  that 
you  go  away,  Auntie.  *  I  shall  have  to  have 
him  alone,  you  know." 


DODD'S  SISTER.  193 

"I  will  go  off  for  a  week,  dear,  and  give 
you  the  best  of  chances." 

So  Auntie  May  informed  Mr.  Douglas 
that  she  would  leave  Ruth  for  a  week,  and 
she  hoped  that  he  would  see  that  she  did  not 
suffer  from  loneliness. 

The  first  evening  that  he  called,  Ruth 
had  her  plans  all  laid.  The  daintiest  of  cos- 
tumes and  the  sweetest  of  smiles  were  pre- 
pared, and  the  delighted  way  in  which  she 
came  forward  and  gave  him  her  hand,  say- 
ing that  she  was  just  perishing  from  loneli- 
ness, and  that  it  was  just  lovely  of  him  to 
come,  quite  charmed  him. 

She  gave  him  a  seat  opposite  her,  over  in 
front  of  the  grate;  then  she  leaned  forward 
in  a  most  bewitching  way,  with  the  light  re- 
flecting from  the  large  pink  lamp  shade 
upon  her  fair  head. 

After  a  few  moments  the  conversation 
turned  upon  some  of  the  new  actresses  that 
were  appearing,  and  Ruth  went  to  bring  a 
magazine  that  contained  some  of  their 

13 


194  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

pictures.  She  sat  down  on  a  low  stool  be- 
side him  and  opened  the  book. 

"Isn't  that  the  loveliest  face?  I  just  envy 
her,"  she  said,  as  she  opened  the  book  to 
the  photogravures.  "I  just  envy  her,  she  is 
so  sweet." 

Mr.  Douglas  could  never  have  given  a 
lucid  account  of  what  followed,  but  Ruth 
could  have  told  you  just  what  came  next 
through  each  of  the  successive  steps  by 
which  she  led  this  astute  lawyer. 

It  was  long  after  his  usual  hour  when  he 
left  the  Nelson  home  that  night,  and  he  was 
really  a  little  surprised  when  he  considered 
that  the  sweet  little  creature  that  he  had  left 
behind  was  his  promised  wife.  He  actually 
could  not  tell  just  how  it  all  happened,  but 
he  certainly  was  glad  that  it  had  happened. 

"Well,  what  success?"  was  Auntie  May's 
first  question  on  her  return. 

"O,  he  came  beautifully,  Auntie.  It  was 
all  done  the  very  first  evening.  He's  ever 
so  much  easier  than  those  horrid  young  fel- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  195 

lows  that  act  as  if  they  were  doing  you  a 
favor." 

Ruth,  however,  had  not  accomplished  all 
of  her  plans.  She  wanted  to  convince  Mr. 
Douglas  of  the  desirability  of  having  the 
wedding  in  March,  as  that  would  allow  her 
to  resign  her  position  in  the  school.  She 
had  an  uncomfortable  apprehension  that  the 
school  board  might  accomplish  her  release 
in  a  less  graceful  manner,  although  her  un- 
cle assured  her  that  he  would  see  to  it  that 
she  held  the  position  as  long  as  she  chose. 

She  could  not  tell  Mr.  Douglas  the  truth, 
for  Auntie  May  had  repeatedly  dwelt  upon 
her  devotion  to  her  work.  Accordingly,  she 
laid  the  matter  before  her. 

"He  does  not  seem  to  think  that  there  is 
any  possibility  of  such  a  thing,  and  I  can't 
make  him  see  any  necessity  of  it.  I  really 
believe  that  he  does  not  seriously  consider 
our  having  the  wedding  before  next  fall." 

"O,  we  must  have  it  at  least  by  June, 
Ruth.  I'll  try  what  I  can  do." 

But  even  Auntie  May's  clever  strategies 


196  THE  EVOLUTION  OP 

failed  of  their  purpose,  and  Ruth  closed  her 
winter  term  of  school  with  anticipations  of 
another  three  months  of  misery. 

The  criticisms  on  her  work  had  been  so 
emphatic  that  the  board  talked  the  matter 
over  in  a  formal  way;  but  as  the  member 
who  had  secured  her  election  insisted  that 
she  be  retained  there  was  nothing  done 
about  it,  and  the  helpless  children  were 
doomed  to  another  term  under  this  teacher, 
whose  nerves  were  so  racked  that  every 
movement  of  theirs  tortured  her.  It  would 
have  been  a  greater  kindness  in  the  board 
to  have  paid  her  dry  goods  bill  and  let  them 
revel  in  the  sunshine  in  the  park. 

But  even  a  school  term  will  come  to  an 
end,  and  at  last  Ruth  was  free.  The  hours 
in  the  school  room  were  not  the  only  ones 
that  were  a  tax  on  her  strength.  The  ques- 
tion of  what  to  do  to  entertain  her  future 
husband  in  his  frequent  calls  was  one  of 
vital  importance. 

There  is  no  need  of  preparation  for  a  pair 
of  bona  fide  lovers,  but  the  affection  in  this 


DODD'S  SISTER.  197 

case  was  so  entirely  on  one  side  that  even 
reasonably  responsive  submission  to  his 
caresses  soon  grew  wearisome  to  her,  and 
she  preferred  to  lead  him  on  in  conversation 
on  subjects  where  he  could  instruct  and  she 
could  listen. 

"What  shall  we  talk  about  tonight. 
Auntie?  Can't  you  give  me  a  leader?" 

"Get  Richard's  North  American  Review. 
There  is  an  article  on  George  Eliot  in  it. 
You  know  something  about  that  subject. 
Get  some  questions  ready." 

"How  can  I  ever  stand  this,  Auntie,  when 
I  am  married?  I  won't  have  you  to  help 
me,  and  I  shall  surely  perish." 

"O,  no  you  won't.  He  will  go  down  town 
evenings  in  a  very  short  time.  You  know 
there  is  a  honeymoon  for  just  such  men  as 
he  is,  and  when  that  wanes  you  will  find  that 
he  will  not  trouble  you  much.  Richard 
goes  away  almost  every  night  now,  al- 
though he  used  to  stay  at  home  a  great  deal 
when  we  were  first  married.  I  think  from 
what  I  know  of  you  that  you  can  be  trusted 


198  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

to  manage  all  those  small  points  when  once 
you  are  married.  I  am  sure  you  have  done 
beautifully  so  far.  It  is  a  perfect  marvel  to 
me  where  you  learned  all  those  things." 

"I  am  sure  I  can't  tell  you,  Auntie.  It 
seems  as  if  I  always  knew  them.  Why,  I 
heard  the  older  girls  tell  about  them  when 
I  was  in  the  primary,  and  we  used  to  think  it 
was  great  fun  to  practice  them  when  we 
were  older." 

"Well,  there  is  one  thing  certain.  No 
woman  is  likely  to  be  imposed  on  when  she 
knows  as  much  as  you  do.  But  we  must  try 
some  way  to  get  that  wedding  settled  for 
June.  June  weddings  are  lovely,  although 
I  suppose  that  he  will  be  scandalized  at  the 
idea  of  the  wedding  so  soon  after  his  moth- 
er's death." 

"Then  you  must  help  me.  Just  tell  him 
that  I  shall  go  away  as  soon  as  school  is 
out  if  we  are  not  married." 

On  the  first  occasion  Auntie  May  told 
Mr.  Douglas  that  she  was  utterly  unhappy 
at  the  thought  of  spending  the  summer 


DODD'S   SISTER.  199 

alone.  She  had  become  so  much  accustomed 
to  dear  Ruth's  society,  and  now  her  mother 
insisted  on  her  coming  home  as  soon  as 
school  was  over. 

"I  don't  know,  but  I  shall  have  to  appeal 
to  you,  Mr.  Douglas,  to  help  me  out.  I  am 
sure  the  summer  without  her  will  be  dread- 
ful." 

"Now,  Auntie,  you  are  making  a  great 
mistake.  Men  are  not  so  dependent  upon 
the  mere  joys  of  society  as  we  giddy  women 
are.  You  don't  suppose  that  Robert  is  go- 
ing to  pine  for  me  this  summer." 

And  she  gave  such  a  sweet  little  laugh, 
and  looked  up  with  such  a  bewitching  air, 
that  Robert  was  tempted  to  kiss  her  in- 
stanter,  regardless  of  all  company.  He  in- 
sisted instead  that  he  would  miss  her  im- 
mensely, and  that  he  must  devise  some 
plans  for  keeping  her. 

With  some  further  suggestions  from 
Auntie  May,  it  was  finally  decided  that  the 
marriage  should  occur  in  a  very  quiet  man- 
ner in  June. 


200  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

"I  don't  see  why  this  could  not  have  been 
settled  before  just  as  well.  We  will  have 
to  hurry  abominably  now,"  Auntie  May  re- 
marked, as  soon  as  they  were  alone. 

And  now  began  the  usual  preparation 
that  is  thought  necessary  for  a  girl  who  is 
about  to  be  married.  Every  possibility  of 
obtaining  the  necessary  dollars  was  can- 
vassed, but  it  was  evident  that  there  was 
going  to  be  a  painful  shortage. 

As  soon  as  the  school  house  door  was 
closed  behind  Ruth  at  night  she  was 
plunged  into  the  excitement  of  shopping 
and  dress-making. 

But  the  bills  mounted  up  in  a  most  shock- 
ing manner.  She  could  not  reconcile  the 
difference  between  the  value  of  a  ten-dollar 
bill  as  represented  by  the  amount  of  labor 
it  required  from  her  to  earn  it,  and  the 
amount  of  merchandise  she  was  able  to  pro- 
cure with  it. 

"What  shall  I  do,  Auntie?  I  haven't  paid 
for  that  mull  and  organdie  yet.  I  haven't 
but  two  pairs  of  shoes,  and  you  thought  I 


DODD'S  SISTER.  201 

ought  at  least  to  have  four,  and  it  will  take 
every  cent  I  can  hope  for  from  the  school 
to  pay  the  dressmaker  and  milliner.  There 
will  be  at  least  fifty  dollars  at  the  dry  goods 
store  besides." 

"Well,  cheer  up,  dear.  Just  remember 
this  is  your  last  struggle.  But  you  can  not 
do  without  a  single  one  of  those  dresses.  It 
would  be  ruinous  for  you  to  get  married 
with  a  shabby  trousseau.  Now,  when  you 
need  anything  hereafter  you  won't  have  to 
consider  each  penny  so  closely." 

"Well,  that  don't  dispose  of  the  present 
troubles.  There  is  no  doubt  that  I  need 
every  one  of  those  things.  I  will  have  them, 
and  I  do  wish  that  I  had  a  little  of  that  here- 
after money  on  hand.  O,  I  have  an  idea, 
Auntie.  Why  wouldn't  this  be  just  the 
scheme?  Can't  you  have  them  charge  that 
dry  goods  bill  to  you,  and  then  hold  them 
off  until  I  can  pay  you?" 

It  was  considered  a  -very  brilliant  idea, 
and  an  extra  dress  was  added  to  the  list  im- 
mediately. Each  day  was  crowded  full  of 


202  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

excitement  and  work,  until  at  last  the  long- 
desired  June  came,  and  only  the  final  prep- 
arations remained. 

Ruth  longed  for  an  elaborate  affair,  with 
a  bower  of  roses  and  a  table  full  of  presents, 
but  it  was  one  of  the  points  that  Mr.  Doug- 
las had  insisted  upon,  that  out  of  respect  to 
his  mother  it  be  a  very  quiet  affair. 

"Do  not  bring  but  two  of  the  children," 
Ruth  wrote  to  her  mother.  "Of  course, 
papa  will  have  to  be  here  if  possible,  or  else 
Uncle  Richard  will  have  to  give  me  away." 

Ruth  was  very  much  pleased  that  the  cer- 
emony was  to  be  one  in  which  the  giving 
away  of  the  bride  would  be  necessary.  This 
relic  of  feudal  ideas  appealed  to  her.  She 
looked  upon  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that 
she  must  be  the  property  of  some  man,  and 
that  in  being  transferred  to  a  husband  she 
must  be  formally  bestowed  by  the  former 
proprietor.  She  cared  nothing  for  that  lib- 
erty that  would  make  her  an  individual  ca- 
pable of  governing  herself.  She  much  pre- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  203 

ferred  throwing  the  responsibility  upon 
some  one  else. 

The  wedding  day  came  at  last,  a  beautiful 
June  day  that  a  bride  might  consider  per- 
fect. The  sun  shone  gloriously,  and  if  there 
was  to  be  any  truth  in  the  old  adage,  "Hap- 
py is  the  bride  that  the  sun  shines  on,"  Ruth 
was  to  be  radiantly  happy,  for  it  sent  a 
shower  of  golden  shafts  on  her  young  head. 

To  the  little  company  gathered  in  Mrs. 
Nelson's  parlor  it  seemed  that  there  was 
every  prospect  of  a  blissful  journey  through 
life  for  the  sweet  bride  and  manly  bride- 
groom. 

There  were  a  few  suspicious  ones,  how- 
ever. The  bridegroom's  sister,  Irene,  who 
idolized  her  brother,  and  who  had  monop- 
olized his  attention  for  so  many  years,  did 
not  feel  altogether  kindly  toward  the  young 
girl  who  had  so  successfully  transferred  his 
affections  to  herself.  The  real  Ruth  who  ex- 
isted under  the  smiling  exterior  was  well 
understood  by  her. 

Early  in  her  brother's  courtship,  when  she 


204  THE  EVOLUTION   OF 

saw  whither  things  were  tending,  she  had 
ventured  to  criticise  Ruth  to  him. 

"O,  don't  be  so  hard  on  her,  sis.  You 
women  are  just  merciless  with  one  another." 

Her  woman's  sense  told  her  she  was  too 
late,  and  she  had  thereafter  simply  main- 
tained complete  silence  on  the  subject.  She 
saw  for  her  brother  many  things  of  which 
the  June  sunshine  never  hinted. 

Ruth's  mother  stood  sadly  watching  her 
daughter  as  the  minister  pronounced  her 
the  wife  of  the  man  beside  her.  Her 
thoughts  went  bounding  back  to  the  night 
when  she  had  stood  a  proud,  hopeful  and 
happy  bride.  Would  this  man  appreciate 
the  precious  charge  he  had  in  her  beautiful 
daughter?  O,  she  would  have  given  her 
heart's  blood  to  have  insured  happiness  to 
that  daughter. 

She  struggled  with  her  thoughts  and  her 
tears  until  she  had  given  the  first  kiss  to  the 
young  wife,  then  she  slipped  quietly  out  of 
the  room,  and  in  the  corner  of  the  dark 
cloak  closet  the  sobs  and  tears  burst  beyond 


DODD'S  SISTER.  205 

her  control.  She  could  scarcely  have  told 
why,  only  that  a  great  burden  of  fear  for 
that  dear  child  seemed  to  oppress  her. 

Why  is  it  that  mothers  always  feel  this 
sorrow  when  they  see  their  daughters  enter 
upon  the  life  of  a  wife?  They  look  on  re- 
signedly enough  when  their  sons  are  mar- 
ried, but  when  it  is  the  daughter  there  seems 
to  be  a  tugging  at  the  heart  strings  that 
sends  them  hurrying  from  the  presence  of 
the  bride,  that  her  joy  may  not  be  damp- 
ened by  the  tears. 

What  do  they  know  that  is  sealed  from 
their  daughters?  A  doubt  came  to  Ruth's 
mother  then.  A  feeling  that  perhaps  she 
had  failed  in  not  acquainting  her  daughter 
more  with  the  hard,  stern  facts  of  the  life 
before  her.  She  knew  that  she  had  done 
just  as  her  mother  did,  but  here  was  her 
frail,  delicate  daughter,  worn  to  the  very  last 
shred  of  strength,  fragile  in  health  for  years, 
about  to  become  the  wife  of  a  strong,  virile 
man,  and  never  suspecting  that  the  life  be- 


206  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 

fore  her  would  not  be  all  rosy  with  senti- 
ment. 

Why  had  she  hesitated  to  tell  Ruth  the 
many  things  that  a  young  wife  would  be 
so  much  wiser  to  know?  Why  need  the 
young  wife  enter  the  married  life  with  ideas 
so  different  from  the  realities?  Why  can  she 
not  have  the  same  knowledge  and  the  same 
view  of  the  nature  that  God  has  implanted 
in  men  that  her  mother  or  her  husband  has? 
Would  it  harm  her?  Would  she  not  be  a  bet- 
ter and  a  happier  wife  if  this  knowledge 
could  come  with  the  right  light  that  an  ex- 
perienced and  loving  mother  could  throw 
on  it?  If  every  mother  could  throw  from  be- 
tween herself  and  her  daughter  every  ves- 
tige of  reserve  and  talk  freely,  the  first  year 
of  married  life  would  not  be  the  most  crit- 
ical, and  often  the  most  disastrous  of  all. 

But  how  had  this  mother  come  through 
it?  Love,  strong,  pure  love  had  been  the 
power.  Would  it  prove  the  same  in  Ruth? 
Would  a  closer  knowledge  of  each  other's 
needs  bring  them  at  last  to  that  oneness  of 


DODD'S  SISTER.  207 

feeling  that  is  ideal  for  man  and  wife?  Per- 
haps,— if  the  love  was  there  in  all  the  full- 
ness that  the  husband  believed  it  to  be, — 
but — ,  the  mother  sobbed  again. 

Auntie  May  came  to  the  door. 

"Now,  don't  feel  bad,  Mary.  Ruth  is  do- 
ing very  nicely,  and  she  will  have  a  lovely 
home." 

"O,  I  don't  doubt  that,  May;  but  you 
know  she  is  very  delicate.  Perhaps  she 
don't  realize " 

"O,  she  will  be  all  right.  She  is  awfully 
tired  now,  but  then  you  know  we  were  just 
the  same  way  when  we  were  married.  We 
can't  expect  girls  to  be  at  their  best  at  such 
a  time.  She  has  worked  constantly  for 
weeks  to  get  ready,  besides  her  school  work, 
but  she  will  have  a  chance  to  rest  now." 

"Yes,  I  know;  but " 

"Well,  let  us  go  back  to  the  parlor.  She 
has  just  what  she  wanted,  and  I  am  sure 
that  we  couldn't  have  done  better  for  her." 

When  Mrs.  Weaver  returned  to  the  par- 
lor all  was  life  and  vivacity  again.  The 


208  THE  EVOLUTION  OF 

first  few  impressive  moments  and  the  first 
congratulations,  when  everything  threatens 
to  collapse  into  utter  silence,  were  happily 
over,  and  a  brusque  uncle  of  the  groom 
met  her  at  the  door. 

"Well,  I  suppose  you  are  like  the  rest  of 
the  mothers ;  you  hate  to  see  your  daughter 
married,  and  yet  you  wouldn't  have  her  do 
otherwise  for  the  world?" 

"O,  yes,  of  course  we  want  the  girls  to 
get  married,  but " 

"They  are  'white  funerals'  sure  enough, 
Mrs.  Weaver,"  put  in  his  wife.  "Mr.  Doug- 
las is  always  making  fun  of  us  women,  just 
because  I  felt  so  badly  when  our  Grace  was 
married." 

"Well,  wife,  I  see  no  need  to  feel  badly 
when  a  girl  marries  Rob;  he's  gold  way 
through." 

"It  isn't  Rob,  William.  You  don't  under- 
stand." 

"All  right ;  111  admit  that  you  women  are 
great  big  riddles." 

Two  hours  later  the  bride  and  groom  had 


DODD'S  SISTER.  2"? 

bidden  farewell  to  their  friends,  and  were 
leaving  for  their  wedding  trip. 

It  had  not  been  Mr.  Douglas'  idea  to 
leave  on  this  trip.  He  much  preferred  to  go 
at  once  to  their  own  beautiful  home,  where 
his  wife  would  find  rest  and  quiet 

Ruth  was  so  evidently  disappointed  at 
this  suggestion  that  he  had  readily  ac- 
quiesced in  her  desire  for  a  wedding  trip. 

She  wished  to  visit  some  of  the  eastern 
watering  places  of  which  she  had  read  so 
much. 

"You  will  find  them  the  stupidest  places  in 
the  world,  Ruth,  unless  you  go  with  a  party. 
I  think  they  are  great  bores.  Wouldn't  you 
like  to  go  to  the  National  Park  now,  or  even 
take  a  trip  to  Alaska?" 

But  nothing  would  satisfy  Ruth  except 
some  eastern  summer  resort.  The  simple 
pleasure  to  be  derived  from  viewing  nature's 
living  wonders  did  not  in  the  least  appeal 
to  her. 

As  she  leaned  back  on  the  cushions  of  the 
parlor  car,  she  felt  that  ever)'  trial  of  her 

14 


210  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

life  was  past.  At  last  she  had  what  she  de- 
sired, and  now  there  was  nothing  left  but 
enjoyment.  She  laid  her  head  back  with  a 
long  drawn  sigh. 

"Are  you  tired,  dearest?" 

"Very." 

"Let  me  put  your  hat  in  the  rack.  You 
can  rest  so  much  better.  It  is  going  to  be  a 
long,  tiresome  ride." 

The  kind  thoughtfulness  brought  a  smile 
of  appreciation. 

She  closed  her  eyes  for  a  moment.  Every 
nerve  was  tingling;  every  muscle  was  ach- 
ing; she  felt  that  she  would  scream  if  any 
one  were  to  speak  to  her  suddenly.  Her 
hand  lay  on  the  arm  of  the  chair.  Her  hus- 
band laid  his  own  tenderly  over  it. 

She  gave  a  start,  opened  her  eyes,  and 
then  drew  her  hand  away. 

She  was  too  miserably  sick  and  tired  to 
endure  a  caress,  much  less  to  respond  to  it. 

A  look  of  surprise  came  into  her  hus- 
band's face,  which  was  quickly  followed  by 


DODD'S   SISTER.  211 

a  flush  of  mortification  and  anger.  He 
turned  and  looked  out  of  the  window  for  a 
long  time  without  speaking. 

And  thus  she  started  on  her  married  life. 


212  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 


WOMANHOOD. 

"All  love  that  hath  not  friendship  for  its  base 
Is  like  a  mansion  built  upon  the  sand." 

The  honeymoon  season  was  far  in  the 
past.  Now,  when  there  was  any  moonlight 
visible  at  all  in  the  Douglas  household  it 
was  shed  from  a  very  ordinary  moon,  ex- 
ceedingly uninteresting  except  for  the  wry 
faces  that  it  insisted  on  making,  betokening 
sometimes  dry  weather  and  sometimes  wet; 
or  quite  possibly  it  was  encircled  by  a  ring 
prophetic  of  coming  storms ;  or  else  it  sent 
a  lurid  light  slanting  across  their  vision  that 
told  of  days  to  come  that  were  long  and  hot 
and  dusty. 

But  that  limpid,  silvery  affair  that  shone 
in  delicate  crescent  on  the  heads  of  bride 
and  groom  was  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

To  the  husband  that  honeymoon  season 
had  been  shorter  far  than  to  the  bride.  The 
domestic  heavens  were  soon  clouded,  and 


DODD'S  SISTER.  213 

he  saw  with  dismay  the  bright  orb  disap- 
pear, together  with  her  attendant  stars,  un- 
til now  scarcely  one  was  to  be  seen;  certain 
it  was  that  Venus  did  not  shed  her  spark- 
ling rays  upon  them,  for  she  had  trailed 
after  the  honeymoon  in  a  disgracefully  rap- 
id manner. 

And  now,  when  the  enchantment  of  moon 
and  stars  was  gone,  and  the  plain  light  of 
day  finally  shone  on  him  again,  he  saw  with 
clearer  vision  just  what  the  other  days  that 
were  to  come  might  have  in  store  for  him. 

He  was  a  man  of  the  dispassionate  nature 
that  views  marriage  from  the  standpoint  of 
common  sense.  He  had  always  meant  to 
marry  some  day  and  rear  his  family  around 
his  hearth,  but  he  was  aware  that  mistakes 
were  common,  and  he  had  it  well  fixed  in 
mind  to  guard  against  such  failure  by  care- 
ful choice  amongst  the  maidens  of  his  ac- 
quaintance. 

He  had  considered  the  matter  well,  and 
could  have  told  you  his  preference  in  size, 
in  color,  in  age,  in  temperament,  and  was 


214  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

ready,  now  that  he  had  passed  the  folly  of 
youth,  to  choose  this  companion  of  his  life. 

He  had  heard  much  about  choosing  a 
wife.  He  would  have  been  loath  to  admit 
that  he  intended  to  look  her  over  with  a 
view  to  possession,  just  as  he  would 
before  he  purchased  a  horse.  He  would 
have  been  farther  yet  from  doing  it.  Men 
rarely  choose  a  wife,  it  is  but  fair  to  pre- 
sume, when  we  compare  the  much-chosen 
ones  with  those  that  are  left  unmolested. 
Fate  is  very  apt  to  take  men  by  the  nape  of 
the  neck  and  cram  some  Miss  otherwise 
difficult  to  dispose  of  down  their  throats. 
Fate  has  a  mighty  grip  on  humanity.  No 
doubt  in  this  way  it  keeps  the  balance  even 
through  the  generations,  and  in  this  way 
prevents  the  division  of  human  kind  into 
two  great  classes  of  fools  and  wise. 

Robert  Douglas  did  not  reckon  well,  if 
he  thought  that  age  would  so  forestall  the 
foolishness  of  masculine  susceptibility  that 
at  thirty  he  could,  with  cool  and  deliberate 


DODD'S  SISTER.  215 

wisdom,  choose  a  wife.  He  could  do  it  no 
better  then  than  at  twenty. 

Amongst  the  many  homely  truths  that 
have  been  formulated  for  us  by  our  ances- 
tors, there  is  none  truer  than  this,  "There 
is  no  fool  like  an  old  fool,"  unless,  alas!  we 
are  compelled  to  amend  it  to  read,  "two 
old  fools."  Melancholy  is  the  truth  that  a 
man's  wisdom  in  choosing  a  wife  seems  to 
be  in  inverse  ratio  to  his  years. 

Robert  Douglas,  in  the  ordinary  affairs 
of  life,  was  far  from  that  condition  in  which 
men  do  deeds  at  which  their  brothers  scoff. 

If  in  moments  when  the  burden  seemed 
insufferable  he  blamed  himself  for  blindness, 
he  need  but  look  around  him  to  know  that 
he  was  not  the  first  wise  man  who  let  his 
wisdom  go  to  the  winds  when  he  was  most 
in  need.  We  look  with  greater  pity  on  these 
men,  who,  blessed  with  much  that  is  good, 
yet  have  something  that  is  not  the  best  in 
womankind.  It  may  be  but  a  divine  dispen- 
sation ;  for  while  nature  and  art  combine  to 
produce  these  women,  it  is  best  that  they  be 


216  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

disposed  of  where  they  will  do  the  least 
harm.  Let  the  men  who  are  rich  in  other 
blessings  take  care  of  them. 

While  this  may  be  very  good  and  very 
just  as  a  universal  principle,  yet  to  Robert 
Douglas  it  was  most  unsatisfactory. 

He  wanted  his  love  to  have  "friendship  for 
its  base,"  and  he  could  not  conceive,  al- 
though two  years  of  his  married  life  had 
rolled  away,  why  the  girl  who  had  seemed 
so  absorbed  in  a  beautiful  bit  of  Browning 
now  turned  wearily  from  any  suggestion  to 
read  more  of  the  mystic  poet.  He  could  not 
blame  himself;  the  change  was  in  the  girl. 
Certain  it  was  that  in  the  days  of  the  court- 
ship there  had  been  every  promise  of  a  beau- 
tiful friendship  growing  up  between  them; 
and  he  had  pictured  the  evenings  at  the 
fireside  where  the  sweet  young  wife  would 
be  happy  in  being  led  along  the  paths  of 
beauty  where  his  superior  knowledge  would 
render  him  a  fitting  guide. 

Although  his  experience  had  taught  him 
that  our  ideals  are  seldom  realized,  the  real- 


DODO'S  SISTER.  217 

ity  of  the  long  cherished  home  life  appalled 
him.  His  fireside  had  been  to  him,  as  it  al- 
ways is  to  men  of  poetic  temperaments,  a 
haven  where  he  retired  for  rest  and  enjoy- 
ment; but  now  when  his  wife  was  there 
their  worlds  were  as  far  apart  as  the  poles. 
She  sat  absorbed  in  a  story  that  to  him 
would  be  inane,  repulsive,  or  even  painful; 
or  reading  with  minute  care  instructions  on 
"How  to  keep  young" ;  or  studying  with  in- 
tense interest  the  latest  sweep  of  skirt,  or 
build  of  choker. 

He  was  left  to  dream  his  dreams,  as  much 
alone  as  he  was  before  she  came;  indeed, 
more  alone;  for  then  he  had  ideals,  now  so 
evidently  false  in  the  face  of  the  hard  facts 
before  him. 

The  beautiful  sentiment  in  "Locksley 
Hall"  was  ruined  for  him,  for  involuntarily 
the  "Amy"  would  take  on  the  flower  face  of 
the  wife  opposite  to  him,  and  he  would  con- 
sider Tennyson  mighty  lucky  in  his  first  dis- 
appointment. 

But  not  often  was  he  allowed  even  this 


218  THE    EVOLUTION   OF 

ghost  of  contentment,  for  even  the  novel 
and  the  fashion  plate  and  the  instructions 
on  facial  massage  soon  wearied,  and  the  de- 
mand for  social  pleasures,  that  were  life  to 
her  and  hollow  mockeries  to  him,  became 
so  insistent  that  he  yielded,  and  in  the 
smoking  room  at  the  dancing  parties  he  be- 
guiled the  weary  hours,  until  his  wife,  her 
powers  of  endurance  exhausted,  was  ready 
to  leave  the  scene  of  gayety. 

She  was  in  her  youth.  Twelve  years  her 
senior,  he  found  that  she  could  not  leap  the 
intervening  time ;  and  had  their  tastes  been 
similar  instead  of  diverse,  he  would  have 
found  that  the  girl  would  naturally  live  out 
her  girlhood,  be  she  wife  or  maiden. 

At  home  his  own  genial  hospitality  was 
turned  into  a  travesty.  The  hearty  wel- 
come that  had  always  been  accorded  to  his 
friends  at  his  board  and  at  his  fireside,  was 
turned  into  scenes  of  display  and  frivolity. 

Where  he  had  formerly  stood  the  genial 
host,  he  now  was  his  wife's  husband,  who 
did  the  honors  at  frequent  entertainments 


DODD'S  SISTER.  219 

to  a  flock  of  butterfly  folk,  who  were  invited 
merely  in  acknowledgment  of  social  indebt- 
edness. 

Ruth  found  her  ideal  happiness  in  this 
life.  She  had  no  complaints  to  make.  Even 
their  honeymoon  had  not  brought  to  her 
the  startling  disappointment  that  had  over- 
whelmed her  husband.  She  had  not  ex- 
pected the  same  style  of  a  moon.  It  was 
unreasonable  to  expect  an  ordinary  honey- 
moon to  be 

"All  poetic,  romantic  and  tender; 
Hanging  with  jewels  a  cabbage-stump, 
And  investing  a  common  post  or  a  pump, 
A  currant-bush  or  a  gooseberry  clump, 
With  a  halo  of  dreamlike  splendor." 

She  had  deemed  a  practical  honeymoon 
that  would  shed  a  ray  not  too  oppressive 
in  its  sentiment,  far  preferable. 

To  reign  supreme  in  one  devoted  heart 
soon  grew  monotonous,  and  she  was  glad 
when  the  bridal  days  were  past,  and  she  es- 
caped from  the  too  devoted  attentions  of  a 
loving  bridegroom. 


220  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

He  was  certainly  ideal  in  his  treatment  of 
her.  She  had  her  plans  all  arranged  for  a 
campaign  on  the  money  question,  should 
her  husband  prove  to  have  as  disagreeable 
notions  about  controlling  expenses  as  did 
Auntie  May's.  She  was  quite  surprised  on 
their  first  return  to  have  him  tell  her  that 
he  would  never  have  his  wife  take  the  atti- 
tude of  a  suppliant  toward  him;  that  when 
he  had  said,  "With  my  worldly  goods  I  thee 
endow,"  he  had  not  considered  it  a  mere 
form.  His  bank  account  was  as  free  to  her 
as  to  himself. 

So  the  matter  of  money  was  forever  set- 
tled between  them. 

It  was  an  ideal  condition,  but,  alas!  a  no- 
ble ideal  and  a  wife  that  is  not  noble  will  not 
harmonize,  and  as  her  aspirations  began  to 
enlarge,  and  her  ambitions  to  lead  in  the 
social  life  around  her  led  her  on  to  greater 
expenses,  he  wondered  how  one  woman 
could  dispose  of  so  much  money,  and  yet 
show  no  results  but  the  gratification  of  her 
own  vanity. 


DODD'S  SISTER.  221 

Very  mildly  he  tried  to  give  her  some  idea 
of  the  condition  of  his  finances,  and  hoped 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  family  income 
would  guide  her  into  reasonable  expendi- 
tures. After  all  his  explanations  she  an- 
swered : 

"I  never  thought  that  you  would  be  mi- 
serly, but  I  suppose  that  all  men  are." 

The  old  relation  between  fifty  dollars  and 
the  labor  that  represents  it  that  she  had 
learned  in  the  school  room  seemed  to  exist 
no  longer.  The  thought  of  value  was  hate- 
ful to  her,  and  she  continued  in  her  extrav- 
agance until  her  husband  was  desperate  in 
the  necessity  of  restraining  her  in  her  un- 
reasonable expenditures. 

The  failure  of  the  bank  account  did  not 
cause  her  the  least  concern,  and  in  reply  to 
her  husband's  persistent  appeals  for  less  ex- 
travagant expenses  she  coolly  remarked 
that  the  getting  of  money  was  not  her  part 
of  the  affair;  if  it  were  she  would  see  to  it 
that  it  was  provided. 

After  a  while  there  came  a  time  when  her 


222  THE   EVOLUTION  OF 

pleasure-seeking  was  interrupted,  when  she 
saw  that  her  gay  life  must  be  forfeited,  and 
that  more  serious  duties  were  soon  to  rest 
upon  her,  that  she  made  the  recollection  of 
his  bachelor  days  appear  to  her  husband 
like  a  paradise. 

The  vain,  selfish  woman  became  the  com- 
plaining, peevish  woman,  and  the  wail  over 
her  misfortune  was  so  constant  that  the  sis- 
ter Irene  had  ample  opportunity  to  demon- 
strate the  point  that  she  had  made  from  the 
beginning,  that  Ruth  lacked  good  sense. 

But  Mr.  Douglas  could  not  admit,  even 
to  his  sister,  that  his  wife  had  been  a  disap- 
pointment. He  was  too  loyal  hearted.  It 
is  a  sign  of  the  most  hopeless  condition  of 
conjugal  happiness  when  a  man  admits  to 
another  his  wife's  shortcomings. 

"You  must  remember  that  Ruth  has 
never  been  well,"  he  explained. 

It  was  too  true;  neither  morally  nor  phys- 
ically had  she  known  what  sound  health 
meant,  and  he  spoke  truer  than  he  knew. 

Nature  would  have  compelled  a  whole- 


DODD'S  SISTER.  223 

some  woman  to  respond  to  the  constant  af- 
fection that  had  surrounded  Ruth  through 
the  years  of  her  married  life,  and  would 
have  opened  to  her  a  wonderful  new  beauty 
in  the  little  life  that  was  coming,  compared 
to  which  the  sacrifice  of  her  mere  social 
pleasures  would  have  been  nothing. 

That  this  hope  and  sweetness  failed  to 
come  to  Ruth  in  her  new  condition,  made 
her  husband  even  more  solicitous.  He  had 
hoped  that  the  new  little  life  would  open  the 
true  womanly  nature  of  his  wife  and  give 
that  richness  that  so  often  comes  with  moth- 
erhood. 

It  had  been  a  long  cherished  wish  to  have 
a  little  one  in  their  home,  and  all  the  sym- 
pathy and  gentleness  of  which  he  was  ca- 
pable was  poured  out  to  his  wife.  But  the 
fuller  the  measure  the  more  she  demanded, 
for  she  felt  that  she  was  being  imposed  upon 
in  the  most  unreasonable  manner,  and  she 
was  exasperated  that  she  was  not  able  to 
shift  this  new  responsibility  upon  some  one 
else.  It  had  rarely  occurred  to  her  in  her 


224  THE   EVOLUTION   OF 

life  that  she  had  been  compelled  to  do  dis- 
agreeable things  against  her  will.  There 
had  been  always  some  way  provided  for  her 
escape;  some  one  else  upon  whom  she 
could  unload  her  burden.  It  was  galling  to 
her  pride  and  her  vanity  that  she  was  forced 
to  bear  this  one  entirely  alone,  and  she  felt 
nothing  but  bitterness  toward  the  little  life 
that  was  the  cause  of  her  misfortune. 

The  little  one  seemed  to  have  felt  the 
chill  life  that  was  awaiting  it,  for  with  one 
faint  cry  it  went  back  again  into  the  vast  and 
mysterious  eternity  from  whence  it  came. 

The  young  mother  had  not  vitality 
enough  to  launch  another  life;  yet  while 
she  could  not  give  the  little  one  strength 
enough  for  a  start  in  life,  certain  it  is  she 
gave  it  all  that  she  had.  The  weeks  were 
prolonged  into  months  before  she  sat  again 
at  the  fireside. 

With  kindest  sympathy  her  husband  tried 
to  encourage  her,  but  she  felt  herself  to  have 
been  too  much  abused  ever  to  regard  him 
again  as  anything  but  her  persecutor.  The 


DODD'S  SISTER.  225 

relations  between  the  two,  instead  of  grow- 
ing closer,  only  widened. 

As  soon  as  sufficient  strength  returned, 
she  insisted  upon  going  to  Chicago,  where 
Mr.  Nelson  had  moved  his  family  the  year 
previous,  to  stay  with  Auntie  May  and  be 
under  the  care  of  a  specialist. 

And  now  a  new  regime  began.  It  was 
the  reign  of  the  Doctor. 

She  had  hoped  for  a  return  of  even  her 
former  delicate  health,  when  she  should 
come  under  his  care;  but  she  was  doomed 
to  bitter  disappointment,  for  only  for  short 
periods  did  she  ever  know  even  the  sem- 
blance of  health.  Every  interruption  of 
constant  medical  care  would  send  her  back 
to  her  old  condition  of  weakness. 

It  was  unreasonable  to  expect  the  doc- 
tors to  rebuild  her  constitution  and  implant 
in  her  frame  the  strength  and  elasticity  that 
should  have  been  ingrown  through  years  of 
culture. 

It  was  not  easy  to  see  just  where  she  had 
been  benefited  by  the  enforced  attendance 

15 


226  THE    EVOLUTION    OF 

at  school,  high  grade  attendance  rolls,  close 
confinement,  constant  mental  drill,  and  high 
nervous  pressure. 

The  thrills  of  pride  that  her  teacher  had 
enjoyed  in  the  display  of  all  this  systematic 
and  punctilious  work  scarcely  compensated 
her  for  her  shattered  constitution. 

Even  the  increase  in  the  treasury  of  the 
Epworth  League,  or  the  constant  attend- 
ance at  all  sorts  of  musical  and  social  affairs 
seemed  matters  of  small  importance  now. 

Womanhood,  uniformly  developed,  must 
be  the  aim  of  a  girl's  education. 

Motherhood,  strong  and  capable,  must 
be  the  focal  point  of  her  development. 

Scorn  to  the  scoffer  who  would  degrade 
it  by  ignoring  its  potency. 

Ruth  might  have  been  everything  of 
which  she  was  capable,  if  she  had  been  ca- 
pable of  being  a  good  mother. 

She  was  in  reality  a  sick  woman;  but 
she  was  infinitely  worse  because  it  suited  the 
role  she  played.  Unable  to  engage  except 
in  a  limited  degree  in  her  former  festivities, 


DODD'S   SISTER.  227 

she  assumed  the  part  of  invalid,  and  in- 
creased her  demands  for  consideration. 

She  was  a  martyr,  and  in  compensation 
the  utmost  that  the  household  could  do 
seemed  inconsiderable.  She  resented  their 
interest  in  anything  outside  of  herself,  and 
would  not  condescend  to  consider  the  dis- 
cussion even  of  her  husband's  most  vital 
business  interests  worthy  of  listening  to, 
and  certainly  not  deserving  of  the  lively  at- 
tention that  his  sister  Irene  gave  them. 

The  short  visits  to  the  city  were  soon  ex- 
tended, until  the  time  that  Robert  Douglas' 
wife  was  in  his  home  was  much  shorter  than 
the  time  that  she  spent  away  from  it. 

At  last  he  was  forced  to  the  humiliating 
acknowledgment  that  his  wife  was  a  failure. 
Irene  answered  with  emphasis: 

"Well,  I  simply  would  not  endure  it." 

"What  would  you  do?" 

"Well,  I  would  do  something." 

"Pray,  what  would  it  be?" 

"I  would  never  have  married  her." 


228  THE   EVOLUTION    OF 

"Very  wise,  no  doubt;  but,  unfortunately, 
a  trifle  too  late." 

"I  certainly  should  not  live  with  her." 

"I  don't  very  much." 

"Well,  she  should  not  be  my  wife." 

"Would  you  have  me  apply  for  a  di- 
vorce?" 

"N-n-o-o,  you  couldn't.  She  comes  home 
too  often  for  that;  but  her  extravagance  is 
ruining  you,  and  she  cares  nothing  for  you." 

"I  see  nothing  to  do  but  simply  to  en- 
dure it." 

And  he  did  endure  it  with  dignity  before 
all  the  world,  except  that  one  sister. 

Even  Auntie  May  could  not  approve  of 
Ruth,  although  her  home  was  always  open 
to  her. 

"A  man  has  some  rights,  Ruth,"  she  said. 

"Well,  I  have  not  infringed  on  any  of  his 
rights  at  all.  He  never  knew  me  to  ask  him 
a  question,  or  criticise  a  thing  that  he  ever 
did;  and  that  is  more  than  Uncle  Richard 
can  say  of  you." 

"I  rather  think  it  is;  but  then  I  don't  go 


DODD'S   SISTER.  229 

away  and  leave  him  alone  by  the  month. 
Your  mother  doesn't  approve  of  your  way 
of  living  at  all,  Ruth." 

"O,  mama  is  so  old-fashioned!  She 
would  have  me  trailing  around  with  a  whole 
household  of  babies  if  she  had  her  way;  but 
I  assure  you  she  never  will.  Why,  if  I  had 
been  tied  at  home  with  a  baby  last  week  I 
could  not  have  come  in  when  I  heard  that 
Irving  and  Terry  were  going  to  be  here; 
besides,  you  know,  I  have  to  keep  near  my 
doctor." 

Mr.  Nelson  came  in  in  time  to  hear  the 
last  of  her  remarks. 

"The  doctor!  I  get  so  infernally  tired  of 
hearing  about  the  doctor  and  sick  women 
that  I  wish  the  whole  tribe  would  perish." 

"That's  rather  strong,  Richard,  it  ap- 
pears to  me.  Which  tribe  do  you  refer  to? 
The  women,  or  the  doctors?" 

"I  meant  the  doctors.  But  I  should  say, 
from  all  the  complaining  women  I  hear, 
that  they  were  in  a  fair  way  to  perish  if  they 
were  just  left  alone." 


230  DODD'S   SISTER. 

"Well,  Richard,  we  can't  help  being  sick. 
You  don't  suppose  we  are  so  just  for  the 
pure  pleasure  that  there  is  in  it,  do  you?" 

"Don't  ask  me  for  the  reason.  I  give  it 
up." 

Mrs.  Nelson  gave  it  up,  too.  Ruth  never 
made  any  effort  to  study  into  causes.  She 
knew  that  she  was  sick,  and  that  was 
enough.  But  that  she  was  mentally  and 
morally,  as  well  as  physically  diseased,  no 
one  but  the  neglected  husband  at  home 
fully  realized. 


,., 


A     000  041  004    3 


